


Kaleidoscope

by salt-n-sin (milkfr0g)



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Underfell, Angst, Determination, Ecto-Tongue, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Feelings, Fluff, Smut, please don't make me tag ecto-dick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-05
Updated: 2017-08-15
Packaged: 2018-05-31 12:52:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 23,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6470644
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkfr0g/pseuds/salt-n-sin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A kaleidoscope can only change if it's twisted and turned. Its ever changing patterns are mesmerizing, even more so when held up to the light. The broken pieces flutter and sparkle, and its handler is dazzled by the happiness it brings him.</p><p>Kardi had always jumped through alternate dimensions. With no memories of her childhood and no motivation to live life, why should she care if she disappeared? What she never expected was that her little adventure to a ghost-town nobody knew existed would end with a fall that would change her life forever.<br/></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Fall

**Author's Note:**

  * For [raruna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/raruna/gifts).
  * Inspired by [a kaleidoscope that shows the past](https://archiveofourown.org/works/6525094) by [salt-n-sin (milkfr0g)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/milkfr0g/pseuds/salt-n-sin). 



> Only chapter one is in first person. I wrote it to vent one day and I didn't think I'd do more but...yeah.
> 
> I'll change the rating and update tags as I go.

Perhaps this story would be best explained if we started with the obvious, correct? The name is Kardi. Just Kardi. I wouldn't call myself a time-traveler per se, but I jump through alternate dimensions (or timelines, whatever you want to call them I don't really care).

  
It sucks. Like, it _**majorly**_ sucks. One day I'm partying and enjoying myself with friends, and the next day I wake up in that damn cabin again. I guess I should explain that. There's a huge wooden cabin in the wilderness somewhere near an interstate highway. I always wake up there when I find myself in a new timeline. The place really gives me the creeps, but my car is always there and I always just drive away.

  
Yeah none of this makes any sense, let's get to the story.

  
So I jump timelines again and I drive onto the Northbound ramp on the interstate. Now, I _always_ drive South; I had no reason to head North but I did, and I kept driving all day and well into the night. Of course I had to stop a few times for gas and food and such, and I changed my route a few times (always heading North, though). There was this strange haze over my mind, different from my usual dissociations. It was as if I finally realized that nothing mattered anymore. I could do literally anything and it wouldn't matter because any morning I could wake up in a new timeline.

  
I didn't sleep. I only kept driving. The next morning I arrived.. somewhere. A town with no welcome sign. A ghost town, if you will. It was disturbingly familiar, though it looked like it must have been abandoned at least fifty years prior to my arrival. It was obvious that it was in a floodzone, as every building was falling apart at the foundation from water damage.

  
I parked my car in a lot between by what appeared to be an old church and a white, two-story house. Curious, I couldn't help but peek into the garage of the old house. It was freezing cold inside, and I could see the cellar to my left was flooded with water. When I heard a creak I figured it was best to get the hell out of there before the entire building collapsed on me. As I paced away from the building I could have sworn I heard a child's voice, which, to be honest didn't even surprise me. _A creepy town like this would definitely be haunted,_ I thought to myself.

  
Making my way up the street the voice seemed to keep following me. It was hard to concentrate on taking in the town around me with incessant giggling clouding my mind.

  
"Look kid, I know you probably haven't seen anybody in a long time," I started rambling to the ghost, "but I'm not exactly a fun person. I mean, shit, that's a lie. I'm not a fun person for kids to be around, got it?"

 

  
_"Kardi, are you sure?"_

 

  
_**Oh hell no.** _ That was creepy as fuck. I only got a few seconds to process it when-

 

  
_"Yeah, I'll ask Mommy! We can go to the creek together!"_

 

  
Two children's voices. The pitch was the same but the first was more soft-spoken. I let out my breath that I'd been holding when they giggled again. It was just a replay. As someone who jumped through alternate timelines I probably should have known I'd feel energies like that. I kept walking up the street past a couple of  shops.

 

  
_"Shit, Kardi. Why do you have to be such a snot-nosed brat?"_

 

  
I froze and looked up at the dilapidated store beside me. That was Felix's voice, but.. my brother had never spoken to me that way before. I was sure I hadn't been a difficult child, either. If anything I remembered being sick for so many years, and then...

  
A wooden panel crashed to the floor inside the building, causing me to nearly jump out of my boots.

 

  
~~**_"YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE WATCHING THEM!"_ ** ~~

 

  
A woman's voice cried out. Even through the static I could tell her speech was mildly slurred, and it didn't seem to be just from distress by itself. I barely recognized the voice. It was familiar, but I wasn't able to put a name or a face to it. There was hardly time to think about it while the voices continued.

 

  
_"Mom's been drinking again. Don't worry you two, I'll protect you."_  
_"I'm going with Dad to the city. He can't be alone with _____! You know that!"_  
_"_____, please hold on..."_  
  
_"I'm sorry, Kardi. If I hadn't slipped and fell down you and Felix wouldn't have gotten in trouble."_  
  
_"Felix what the hell?! Is that a damn knife?!"_  
  
_"It's okay, Kardi. I won't let the same thing happen to you that happened to _____."_

 

  
A man's scream rang out all around me. That was it, I booked it, running further up the street. It was only about a quarter-mile before I reached a highway separating the town from the mountainside. It was beat up from constant flooding, but I managed to jump across fissures and over rocks with only a couple of minor scrapes. I was way too freaked to cross carefully.

  
Once I made it across I could hear rushing water to my right. There was a creek, or what looked more like a river now, cutting deep into the mountainside and down into the town. Further up in the forest it sounded like there was a waterfall. The sound calmed me down significantly, but the haze on my mind returned, calling me into the forest. I only heard one more set of ghostly voices as I passed by the remnants of a lone building bordering the treeline.

 

  
_"Man, this shit's dope Felix. Where'd you get it?"_  
  
_"Babe, shouldn't you be watching the twins?"_  
  
_"Nah they're fine. Kardi may be a brat, but she's not an idiot."_

 

  
For some reason when I heard the voice of my brother say those words, I didn't feel as though he was talking about me. Suddenly I felt empty, forgotten. I stole one more glance at the creek before walking between the trees.

  
Hiking was fairly easy. I'd done my fair share before I was old enough to drive. What? You thought I always conveniently had a car parked at my mystery cabin in the woods? Well I lied. A cruel fate like random quantum hopping doesn't just give nice little conveniences like that. I had to earn that convenience.

  
Anyway, I hiked for what seemed like miles. Of course, it feels longer when you're travelling uphill. I didn't know why I felt this urge to travel deeper and deeper into the forest. It was like some force was pulling me, begging me to find its source. Something in the back of my mind screamed to keep pushing forward.

 

  
Now, if I had known then that my next steps would change my life forever, would I have still taken them? Despite the hell that awaited me, would I have known that it would be worth it in the end? Would I have chosen this fate if I'd known? To the other me's out there: Do it. Maybe you can complete whatever they wanted you to do. I'll live out my selfish desires here. I'm _happy_. Somebody else can complete this mission.

 

  
Sorry, back to my story. Eventually I came to a cave. Curious, I stepped inside and was greeted by dead silence. Not just your average every day silence, but _advanced silence._ Jokes aside, it was eerie as all hell. I couldn't even hear the sounds from outside even though I was standing right next to the cave mouth. It just.. didn't feel right. I turned around to leave the cave.

  
It was like running into a glass door. I could feel the sunlight pouring in through the cave's entrance but something solid blocked the way. _No fuckin' way,_ I huffed. Well, what could I even do now? I looked back around the inside of the cavern. It didn't even go very far into the mountain, I could see the back wall from where I was standing. My gaze was pulled to the floor, where a large hole opened up into the earth. I edged over to the side of the hole, carefully got to my knees, and peered down.

  
"Fuck that!" I gulped. I didn't think I could survive jumping down there. I started thinking about other ways I could get out of the cavern, including digging at the far wall with my bare hands. What a joke. Everything in the cave was solid stone, there was no way I'd be able to make it through a wall even if I had tools. The only way was down. The only way was.. death.

  
And, shit, you'd think at this point I would have been prepared to just die whenever. However, when you're suddenly faced with it as an inevitability it's actually pretty scary. What was I supposed to do? Sit there and dehydrate? I would have preferred it if death had thrown me a surprise party rather than giving me the option to get a gift for either my birthday or Christmas (can't have both; man, December birthdays amirite?).

  
Fate chose to grace me with a birthday gift. It was like having a surprise party, but somebody spoiled it beforehand. As I stood up at the edge of that open hole in the ground the rocks gave way beneath my feet, and I found myself plummeting face-first toward my death.

 

  
Or so I thought. The first time, actually. Yeah I've got a lot of near-death experiences coming up in this story, so keep paying attention.

 

  
I landed on something soft. I still had the wind knocked out of me, and I was sure that something cracked in my back. I grabbed my stomach and rolled onto my side groaning. At least I was alive.. I guess. When I finally caught my breath I saw that it was a huge patch of yellow flowers that broke my fall. How convenient. I looked back up, the hole I'd fallen from must have been a mile away (or maybe that was the vertigo making it seem far away). Either way, I guessed it was about time to figure a way out of the mountain.

  
"Howdy!" a voice called out. This one wasn't a ghost. I looked over toward the edge of the flowerbed, where one of the flowers was standing much taller than the others and swinging back and forth rhythmically. I narrowed my eyes to get a better look at it. The thing had a face!

  
"What the hell are you?" Of all of the timelines I'd jumped through I'd still never seen anything like this. The flower giggled.

  
"I'm Flowey the flower! I'm gonna be your new best friend down here!" The flower giggled again. "That is, unless you _want_ to die."

  
"I think I'll choose death," I scoffed. This damn thing was too cheerful.

  
"Gee, that's pretty mean," Flowey's smile fell and his petals drooped as he stopped swaying. I stretched my limbs and checked to make sure nothing was broken before dragging myself to my feet. I did a couple more stretches to get my bloodflow going again and looked around the cavern. The only opening other than the hole above was a door on the far wall. I stumbled out of the patch of flowers and past Flowey toward it. He perked back up as I walked by.

  
"All righty then, be my guest. Maybe you'll get along just fine out there. You don't strike me as a total idiot." Before I could ask him what he meant by his words, Flowey ducked back into the soil. So much for being my best friend, ditching me like that. Soon I understood why he had fled though.

  
I was beginning to regret hiking up that mountain.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if the "ghosts" were confusing at all. They're actually a direct reference to another one of my stories that I'm currently working on to be a companion piece for Our Hearts are Filled With Holes. (because I work on like 10 stories at a time fight me irl)


	2. Trouble Tones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Third person this time and probably most chapters after this, woo!

"So much for the whole 'best friend' act; that little bastard ditched me!" Kardi huffed. She stood at the doorway to whatever awaited her ahead, apprehension suddenly clouding her mind in the silence. What was out there that Flowey had been trying to warn her about? Maybe it would have been a better idea for her to try jumping into another timeline.

  
Kardi didn't exactly have the ability to jump wherever or whenever she wanted. However, she had been in situations in the past where she could will herself out of a timeline that she felt was going particularly wrong. The solution: Sleep it off.

  
She paced back around to the flowerbed and pushed the plants around until she had made a small, makeshift hideaway. She wasn't sure who would find her in an underground cavern (other than Flowey, she guessed), but she felt it didn't hurt to take some precaution. Kardi nestled her back against the flowers and invited sleep to take her.

  
Unfortunately, sleep ignored her invitation. Somebody else had seemed to have found it, though. Another damn ghost.

  
~~_"...termi--tion...weak...-on't...--rvive..-"_ ~~

  
Kardi listened to the voice struggle to speak over what seemed like the hissing and popping static that effectively drowned it out. It sounded like it was disappointed. She felt vaguely sorry for the voice, but she was more keen on getting herself out of that cavern than trying to find out what was wrong. Scooting further into the flowers, she tried to think of new build-paths for a game to bore herself to sleep.

  
It was hard to concentrate on video games when the static in the room was getting louder. Soon it was also accompanied by high-pitched _screeching_ that constantly hiccupped at random intervals. The sounds together reminded Kardi of an old dial-up modem. She covered her ears when the sound finally became to much to bear. Just as she was about to scream at the noise to stop, it did just that. With the noise finally gone she readjusted her head on her arm and sighed with relief, finally starting to feel some weight on her eyelids.

  
"Quite an odd place to sleep," a deep voice sang. "Although it wouldn't be the first time I've witnessed someone choose to nap somewhere unconventional," it continued. Kardi groaned and rolled over to face the flowers. She then sent a dismissive wave away from herself. When the voice chuckled her eyes shot open, a feeling of danger rushing every one of her senses. Something felt.. _wrong._ Whatever new presence had invited itself into the area radiated danger. Kardi's heart was beating too fast to even think about trying to sleep at that point, even when she convinced herself that was just her imagination. If it wasn't her imagination, well, death certainly liked to take his time, didn't he?

  
She squealed when she felt a bony hand rest on her back and scrambled over the flowerbed, turning to face whatever had touched her. When she looked at the figure looming above her first thought was death for sure. The creature (or man, she guessed) had to have been over seven feet tall, slender with broad shoulders. Two large cracks ran up and down his skull. The one on the right caused his eyesocket to droop slightly, while the one on the left nestled between the bottom of his left eye and his crooked smile. One hand was tucked into the pocket of his black lab coat while the other was still reaching out to where Kardi had layed on the ground. It appeared to be made of bone, but it wasn't necessarily a human skeleton. The bone seemed more fused together, yet still flexible. The most intriguing feature however, was the large hole in his palm. The man chuckled again and shifted his gaze to the girl once more.

  
"Ah, so you're not on your deathbed yet. Others aren't always so lucky after _dropping in_ so suddenly." He grinned, baring white fangs that glistened in the pale light of the cavern.

  
"You mean other people are stupid enough to fall down here?" Kardi blurted out. She winced at her own unmonitored response. What was she doing talking to this thing that was probably going to eat her? Then she thought that maybe if she made conversation with him he might let her stand on his shoulders to lift her out of the hole or something. He circled around the flowers moving closer to her as he let out a genuine laugh. He held out his hand, presumably to help her to her feet, which she accepted with some hesitation.

  
"So, uh," Kardi cleared her throat and looked the man up and down. "What exactly are you?" She knew asking so bluntly was rude, but damn she'd had a hard day and really couldn't be bothered to censor herself. Although the man seemed to have a deathly aura about him, his voice was cool and collected enough that she wasn't as afraid as she'd been a few moments before. He let out a hum and placed his hand over his chest before introducing himself.

  
"I am Doctor W.D. Gaster, Royal Scientist. Though this knowledge probably won't matter to you much longer." He pulled his other hand out of his coat pocket and offered it. Kardi took hold of him to greet, ever so tempted to curl her fingers through the hole in his palm.

  
"Wait, what's that supposed to mean?" she accused, breaking their handshake before temptation got the best of her. "You gonna bake me in a pie or something?" Gaster laughed again. She felt pretty good about making such a scary guy laugh at her sarcasm.

  
"Most who fall here don't last long. Ironically, I do know someone who probably would bake you into a pie." The doctor narrowed his eyes toward the door that Kardi had nearly walked through not so long ago. A shiver ran up her spine as she got the hint. Doctor Death, er, Gaster seemed to have saved her from _actual_ death.

  
Grabbing her wrists he pulled her close to himself. His body radiated heat through the incredibly soft material of his red sweater, and Kardi flushed at the sudden close contact. As much as she didn't want to protest, she still wasn't entirely sure that the doctor wasn't planning on killing her. His aura still had that constant white noise of danger seeping into the room all around them.

  
"As I said, most who fall often die. We should leave before the Queen sees you."

  
"Queen? Leave to where? What?" Kardi sputtered out questions, dazed by the heat and tension in the air. The mood had shifted so quickly it was overwhelming. She gripped onto the fabric of his sweater, desperate to keep herself standing as her eyelids fluttered and her mind threatened to shut down.

  
Gaster released one of her wrists and moved his hand to her back to support her. Although she appeared to be unharmed there was clearly something wrong. Moments ago she had been cheerful and sassy, but she shut down so suddenly. It couldn't be normal. He would have to ask her about it if she was still coherent later.

  
"I would like to take you somewhere for an examination," he informed her.

  
"What kind? Are we gonna play doctor?" Kardi mumbled. Gaster took her sass as a good sign and hummed with confidence before grinning once again.

  
"Oh, I can tell you're going to be _fun_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short because I want the next chapter to be by itself and not an extension of this.


	3. Soul Power

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gaster takes Kardi to his lab to _observe_ her soul, and ends up doing some more to it as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter gets a little hot and heavy, but not enough to warrant an Explicit rating.
> 
> I had SO MUCH FUN writing this chapter. Oh man. Oh yes. This is my favorite Gaster I've written so far.

Kardi blinked several times in the bright light that now surrounded the two of them. Gaster was still holding her, which she was grateful for because she wasn't sure she could stand on her own two feet. She was exhausted. Of course her body would choose to be tired at a time like this when her life may be in danger. At least the nice doctor man was there to cling to, even if he wanted to eat her later. For the time being, however, he was nice and warm. Gaster patted her back and hummed.

  
"Can you stand on your own?" he asked, almost sounding a bit impatient.

  
"Don't wanna," Kardi pouted while wrapping her arms around him. The deep chuckle he responded with reverberated through his body. She couldn't help but close her eyes and sigh with a smile. If he going to take her out at some point, at least she'd die happy.

  
"I would like to examine your soul," he continued as he put a hand on top of her head. "I cannot do that effectively while you're pressed against me like this." Kardi pouted again and tightened her grip before finally letting go and finding balance on her own feet once more.

  
"Okay, what do you mean my soul anyway? Is that the exam you were talking about?" She could feel her mind starting to clear once  more as she took in her surroundings. They were no longer in the cavern. She didn't know how they had come to this new room, but she figured she must have blacked out earlier. It was some kind of lab or exam room. A computer at a large desk was running some sort of program with a bunch of symbols flashing across the screen. The papers on the desk were neatly stacked and organized. The rest of the room was also very well organized, tools and boxes were tucked away on shelves. The striking centerpiece of the room was a huge, empty vat. Kardi guessed that she could fit her entire body inside of it.

  
"Your soul is the culmination of your being," Gaster explained. "It resides within your chest, though I must pull it out to observe it."

  
"Haven't even bought me dinner yet and you're already trying to get under my shirt? Sorry bro, but you're not _that_ smooth," Kardi snarked as she rolled her eyes with a grin and crossed her arms.

  
"How about we skip dinner-" the doctor advanced toward her, his presence pushing her back until she found herself at his desk. She uncrossed her arms and gripped the front of it to keep herself from falling back and crashing into the computer as he towered over her, his chest inches from her face where she could smell the fabric of his red sweater. "-and we can get right to coffee in my apartment."

  
Kardi gulped, her face flushed and her heart beating about a thousand miles per minute. Admittedly, that was _pretty fucking smooth._ Like, smoother than a duck through water. If she wasn't already convinced that he was going to eventually murder her and then put her through a meat grinder for sausage or something she'd be pretty turned on. Scratch that, she was still inappropriately turned on. He was just so close and she could feel his body heat hovering in front of her and, damn, he was _tempting._

  
"Y-you never even asked my name," she stuttered, turning her head to the side to look away from him.

  
"Kardi," he stated matter-of-factly.

  
"What?!" she squealed. Could he read her mind? Had he stalked her? Wait.. no, they were underground past some invisible wall, and she had never even seen him before. People would have noticed a creature like him parading the streets. She looked back up at him, narrowing her eyes at his amused expression. Doctor Gaster pointed to her left wrist.

  
"It's spelled out on your bracelet." Kardi let go of the desk to lift her wrist to her face. She had forgotten that she decided to wear that attempt at a 'kandi' bracelet she'd made recently. Of course, she'd put her own name in round black and green alphabet beads to match her dancing outfit. Why? In case she was too drunk or dissociated so bad in the middle of a party she couldn't remember her own name. Both had happened in the past already, so she figured she might as well be prepared for the next time. Well, it was next time.

  
Kardi's thoughts were interrupted by Gaster clearing his throat.

  
"Oh, uh, yeah, sorry," she put her hand to his chest and pressed lightly to prompt him to step back a little. He complied, but only backed off just enough for her to stop bending backwards over his desk and redistribute her weight to her feet. "So you wanna, _observe_ my soul?" she questioned, nervousness creeping into her stomach.

  
"Precisely," he nodded.

  
"I don't have to take my clothes off for this, do I?"

  
"You can if you would like to." Kardi choked on a sharp gasp and covered her face as she began to cough and sputter. She could feel the heat rush to her cheeks as she tried to think of a witty response. At that point she wouldn't have minded the doctor undressing her, but given the option she thought it better to keep her clothes on for the time being.

 

  
Oh, this human was delightful to toy with. She was brimming with manic energy, so much so that he was feeling quite energized himself. That made her earlier shutdown even more strange to him as she seemed to be quite bright and full of sass. Though, there were still many things he did not know about her. He hadn't even seen her soul yet, and he would be lying to himself if he didn't admit to delaying the process. Somewhere in the back of his mind he hoped that her soul wouldn't be what he was looking for. If it was, well, he certainly wouldn't mind drawing out her death to be as slow and agonizingly pleasurable for himself as possible.

 

  
"That's okay," Kardi laughed nervously. Something about the way Gaster's mouth twitched she thought he may be nervous as well. "Let's uh, do it I guess."

  
The doctor sighed, and she watched as he lifted his hand and slowly moved it toward her chest. The action accompanied by his silence made her hair stand on end. Without his 'good doctor' facade to distract her she could once again hone in on his deathly aura, the pressure in the air building as he moved closer to her.

  
"W-wait!" she stammered, throwing her hand up to meet his in protest. Her knuckles knocked against him before she uncurled her fingers and absentmindedly traced the hole in his palm. She didn't notice before, but his hand lacked the heat that a normal human would have. It wasn't that his hand was uncomfortably cold, but it wasn't warm. "Um.. this isn't gonna hurt is it?"

  
"You may feel a slight tugging sensation in your chest and back," he informed her in a clinical tone.

  
"Right," Kardi put her other hand over her chest. She could feel her heart about to burst out like in a sci-fi movie, and it only quickened when the doctor readjusted his hand to take hold of her own.

  
"You're beginning to hyperventilate," he started while reaching for a large chair at the side of his desk. He swiveled it behind Kardi and motioned for her to sit. "Don't faint on me, now. You won't be able to see if you are unconscious."

  
Kardi took a deep breath while she sat back, releasing the doctor and letting both hands fall to and grip the the chair's arms. She took a couple more deep breaths before her breathing was closer to normal, though her nerves were still lit with fear. She looked up at the doctor and nodded. Gaster once again slowly moved his hand toward her chest. Just as his fingertips brushed the fabric of her shirt Kardi flinched.

  
He was only going to look at her soul right? Not that she minded being touched by the doctor, he was actually quite attractive, but he still had that aura of danger. Hell, the fangs were a dead giveaway that he had to be _some_ sort of predator, sexual or not. However, he could have assaulted or killed her at any point since she had decided to sleep in the flowerbed. Either he had incredible self-control, or he really was a just a very nice man who had been cursed with an intimidating outward appearance. Though, Kardi had to admit that same intimidation was part of what made him attractive.

  
"Your pupils are dilated," Gaster chuckled.

  
"J-Just do the damn soul thing already!" she squealed, squeezing her eyes shut and turning her head to the side. His fingers pressed into her shirt, stretching the fabric as he gently fought it's resistance. She clutched the arms of the chair harder as she felt an intense pulling that moved from her back to her chest as his hand moved away. The sensation was uncomfortable and slightly nauseating. When the feeling finally receded she could feel her muscles begin to relax just a little bit.

  
_"Fascinating,"_ she heard Gaster breathe. "I have seen quite a few souls but yours is _very interesting_." He sounded pleased, and Kardi took it as a good sign. If he liked what he saw then perhaps by extension he would like her, and _maybe_ he would help her get out of wherever she was. Maybe.. but where was she even planning on going after this?

  
"Would you like to see?" the doctor inquired.

  
Kardi blinked her eyes open. She had them squeezed shut so tight that it took a moment to re-adjust to the bright light of the room again. When she turned to look forward she saw Doctor Gaster grinning at a glowing, heart-shaped orb about the size of her own fist hovering above his upturned palm. A mix of dark colors swirled around inside the entity, becoming warmer as they radiated toward its dark red center.

  
"Usually I can tell a lot about a person by their soul, but yours," he let out a chuckle that melted into a low hum. "Yours may contradict what I am used to."

  
"Must be a good thing since you seem so giddy about it," Kardi remarked. She felt much more at ease with the doctor so intrigued by her soul. He obviously liked what he was seeing, and that alone made Kardi feel great about being alive. As she relished in the positivity she was feeling the purple tones within her soul began to glow brighter, the red core dulling in comparison.

  
"I don't mind elaborating if you would like to know more," he turned his gaze toward her. It was then that she noticed his eyes were no longer his normal black, empty sockets with white pinprick pupils that she had become accustomed to. His eyes had instead changed to display glowing violet irises, dull swirls of the same color dancing excitedly behind them. She'd already come to know him to be expressive, but those eyes intensified that trait tenfold. Kardi wanted to tease him about _his_ pupils being dilated now. However, her curiosity overrode her usual sass, and she also wanted to hear the doctor speak for a while.

  
"Do different colors mean different things?" she asked him.

  
"Indeed. Your soul appears to have a base color of purple," Gaster began. He moved his other hand to motion around the glowing heart, the subsequent motion of the air around it making Kardi shiver. "The purple color represents perseverance. Do you know why you possess this trait?"

  
Kardi shook her head. She couldn't think of anything about herself that would warrant a trait like that. If anything there should be a color for apathy since the constant timeline jumps made it so she no longer cared whether she even lived or died. Perhaps the perseverance trait was prevalent in her soul simply because she still existed.

  
"The blue that radiates out toward the edges represents integrity," he continued. Kardi snorted with laughter.

  
"Yeah I've got friends who tell me I'm lawful evil, so I guess that makes sense!" she continued to giggle.

  
"I have no idea what that means," Gaster told her.

  
"Oh like, alignments," Kardi caught herself before going on a tangent. "I don't really get it either, but I have a chart on my phone if you want to go over it together after this. You strike me as the chaotic evil type," she winked and patted the front pocket of her shorts where her cell phone rested.

  
"I see," the doctor blinked. Although he was still smiling he looked like he may have been just a little bit disappointed. It wasn't long before his face lit up again and his grin grew the widest she'd seen it yet.

  
"Now _this_ is the part of your soul I find most intriguing," he sang as he pointed to the red core of the floating heart between them. He paused and stared at her soul as if he were hypnotized by it. He was silent long enough that Kardi began to feel a little uncomfortable. She shifted in her seat and tapped the arm of the chair.

  
"Um," her voice was enough to tear his eyes from her soul and back to her face. Had he been so enamored with that red light that he forgot she was there?

  
"So what is it?" she asked him while biting the inside of her lip.

  
"Determination," he stated. "We call it DT for short. It's a tricky form of magic, and almost all souls possess some quantity of it. Yours, however has the highest concentration of DT I've ever seen in a human soul that wasn't purely formed of it in the first place."

  
"So you're saying that souls can be one solid color?" Kardi was fascinated now. To know that something about her was unique and impressive made her smile. Even more so she was thrilled that she had impressed the attractive doctor.

  
"Most human souls are not, but yes, they can be. In fact, it's those solid-colored souls that I am seeking. They are the only ones that will work for my current project," Gaster explained.

Kardi's high spirit was short-lived after he had told her that. Her mind clouded almost immediately, the only thing coming to the surface was the thought that she was useless regardless of the doctor's initial excitement at viewing her soul. She wished that she could just curl up in a bed with her phone and watch videos until she fell asleep. Pawing at her thigh she decided it was too much effort to get to her phone; her shorts were tight and she couldn't put her hand in her pocket without shifting awkwardly or standing completely. The swirling hues of her own soul would have to do.

 

  
There it was again. The human's energy disappeared in an instant, as if a black hole had formed and sucked it out of her. Even the cooler glows of her soul dimmed as it happened. Gaster wondered how in the world such a huge amount of energy could just disappear so suddenly the way it did. He narrowed his eyes at the core of DT in her soul. That had not dimmed when her energy disappeared, and he speculated if maybe that was what affected her sudden changes in disposition. Regardless, he wasn't finished with her yet.

  
"Kardi?" She didn't answer him, but she did hum to acknowledge that he had spoken to her. "Your soul not being what I am looking for brings both good news and bad news for you." He didn't bother asking which she wanted first. Her eyes were glazed over and she was completely out of it, staring deep into her own soul resting above his palm.

  
"The good news is that you can keep your soul. In other words, I do not have to kill you."

 

  
_So he was planning on offing me,_ Kardi thought to herself. _Heh, I knew it.. but what does he have planned now?_

  
"The bad news is that if I allow you to leave this facility alone, somebody else will."

  
_Oh._

  
"However," Gaster continued, "I am not ready to release you just yet." Kardi was brought to back attention when she felt a tightening pressure in her chest. She blinked to refocus her gaze and saw that the doctor had curled his fingers upward and around her soul, effectively caging it. She winced as he tightened his grip, the violet lights behind his eyes dancing wildly as he smirked.

  
"W-What are you doing?" she gripped at her chest, the pressure forcing her to pant with labored breaths. Didn't he just say he _wasn't_ going to kill her? She shook knowing that she had no clue what kind of things a creature like him could do to her. Gaster may have been attractive, but his capability to be a danger to her was still unsettling if not downright frightening.

  
Before she had a chance to think about the horrible things he could do to her, he suddenly released his grip on her soul. Air rushed into her lungs fast enough to make her cough a bit as the pressure on her chest faded.

  
"What the hell was _that_ for?" Kardi accused. The doctor chuckled in response,

  
"My, you are resilient." He moved near which prompted her to lift her feet onto the chair in an attempt to recoil from him. He simply brought himself even closer when he lifted his knee onto the chair, his free hand grasping the back of it while her soul remained cupped in his other palm.

  
"I haven't seen natural concentrations of determination like this in a long time," he breathed over her. "I would love to perform some _tests_." Gaster brushed his thumb over the surface of Kardi's soul, causing her to cry out with a gasp. His touch was painful, but somehow felt mildly pleasurable at the same time. It was as if he had touched her chest from the inside, sparking sensations she had never felt before. The red core within her soul flared a brighter tone and shook after the physical contact. He held her soul closer to her face so that she could observe it also.

 

  
"Your determination is resisting me," he  explained. The power within Kardi's soul excited him. He wanted so badly to tear into it and examine every bit as intimately as possible, but it wouldn't do any good to break his new companion so soon. Even though he had found her barely an hour ago, he already enjoyed her presence. She was truly a fascinating creature.

  
He ran his fingers along the side of her soul, watching as the DT core flared with long streaks outward that broke off and radiated toward the edges before dissolving. Kardi squirmed and panted beneath him, digging her nails into the arms of his chair as she yelped in response.

  
"Does my touch cause you pain?" Gaster didn't need to ask, he knew by the way her DT reacted that anything more than his light fondling would be excruciating. Perhaps a different kind of sensation would spark her magic in a more unique way. He had seen the way she eyed him earlier on, the blush that crept across her skin and the way her breathing sped up ever so slightly. He recognized her attraction to him, and he was itching to try something new.

  
The way Kardi's eyes widened with conflicting emotions when he rolled his violet tongue over his fangs delighted him. She looked up at him with more curiosity than fear in her expression. Moving his knee further back on the chair and between her legs, he bent down so his gaze met hers with her soul between the two of them. Her Determination flared angrily in response to his face being so close, causing Kardi to grip her chest and whimper in pain.

  
"Perhaps this will hurt less," he breathed, the DT in her soul shaking as his warmth passed over it. By extension the girl also shivered and parted her lips in anticipation.

  
The doctor had to admit that she was the most enjoyable human he had ever encountered.

  
Keeping his gaze on the DT core, he slid his tongue over the surface of her soul. The core shook violently and throbbed within it, but what shocked him more was her taste. He hadn't expected such an unbalanced combination of sweetness and sharp _bitterness._ Kardi writhed beneath him as he continued to brush himself over her soul, coating it with wet, violet magic that dripped onto her lap. Her cries of pain were now accompanied by high-pitched moans, and he knew that he had ignited a fire within her.

  
He moved his hand from her soul and allowed it to float freely while he continued caressing it with his magic and gripped her shoulder, stroking her collarbone with his thumb. Gaster smiled as he saw that action had really got her going. The girl slid down on the chair so he could feel the heat through her shorts on his knee. She was flushed and beginning to sweat and, _oh she was tempting._

  
The red core in her soul began to grow in size when he brushed his fangs across the surface, Kardi simultaneously cried out in pain. He moved his hand from her shoulder to the back of her head, entangling his fingers in her hair.

  
"Determination is a strange thing," he spoke. "In theory, it is what allows the soul to persist after death." Gaster breathed over her soul once more and she moved her hips to press herself further against his knee. "But I've seen it do more interesting things," he lapped at it again sending the DT flaring out in ribbons.

  
"I believe this power can alter time itself." He gripped her hair and pressed closer to her, willing her soul to move lower so their faces could meet.

  
"Wait," Kardi whimpered. Her bottom lip was shaking and she looked down at her soul with fear in her eyes. The doctor glanced back at her soul, observing the determination within flash urgently. He released her hair and brought his hand close to it again, causing the DT to once again flare outward. Both of her hands shot up and grabbed the low collar his sweater.

  
"D-don't touch it!" she mewled. He eyed her curiously and brushed away a bit of his slick magic that coated the surface her soul with his finger.

  
_"Stop!"_ Kardi shrieked at him. Gaster grunted, becoming irritated by her sudden change of heart, so he caged her soul within his hand again and she _screamed._ The red core flashed and swirled so frantically it nearly blocked out the colors of her other attributes. The girl was still screaming and she was begging him to stop touching her soul, to stop _aggravating it._ He finally released it when he saw the tears streaming down her face, the terror flashing in her eyes as her bottom lip quivered.

  
Though he was disappointed that their intimacy was brought to an abrupt halt, he saw no reason to force himself on her while she was in a state of panic. However, he did want to know what had caused her to react in such a way, and so suddenly. When he moved to return her soul to her body, Kardi grabbed his hand with both of her own.

  
_"Don't,"_ she whispered in desperation. This confused him even more.

  
"Don't what?" Gaster inquired.

  
_"Please,"_ she begged, _"take it out."_

  
The doctor watched as she closed her eyes and slipped into unconsciousness in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kardi dissociated and didn't wanna pov anymore, so Gaster took over and saved the chapter.


	4. Babysitter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kardi spends time with the neurotic lunch lady goat from underhell (thank you so much for that description raruna ily)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It took my wife three days to make that potato salad... _THREE DAYS!!!_

Kardi awoke with a groan. Every part of her body felt incredibly sore, so much so that even rolling over set her nerves alight with excruciating pain. Her eyelids were still too heavy to open, so she pulled the comforter closer to her face and huffed. She knew pain like this wouldn't allow her to sleep any longer, but it didn't mean she had to get up and go yet. Whatever new timeline she'd ended up in could wait.  
  
Doctor Gaster. She hadn't known him for very long, but she already missed that big dumbass. No, that was mean. He didn't know she had this jumping power that she couldn't control. He got overexcited and she wasn't able to correctly explain the problem to him. She figured she was more at fault than he had been.  
  
But now she knew what was causing her to jump through timelines: Determination.  
  
Kardi had a sudden realization. Gaster definitely seemed to know his shit when it came to souls.  
  
She could go back. She could jump down that hole in the mountain with confidence now that she knew it wasn't a bad enough fall to kill her. She could find Gaster again and have him do something to get that goddamn wacky magic out of her soul.  
  
The jumps could stop.  
  
She'd still be stuck in that underground cave but if he was there, well, maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He was very attractive and it was clear that he liked her in some way as much as she liked him and, _shit_ they didn't even know anything about each other yet but she still _wanted_ him.  
  
It was settled. As soon as she could bring herself to get out of bed she would drive another eighteen hours to that mountain and find that hole again. She was _determined_ to do it.  
  
Ugh, scratch that. Kardi never wanted to hear any variation of the word _determination_ ever again.  
  
She was eager to get up and start driving, but she knew that her body needed more rest to recover. If she didn't give herself that then the drive would be so painful she might not survive the hike up the mountain. Shifting in bed again she wondered if it would be a good idea to have pancakes and coffee with one of her friends before heading out of state again. Perhaps it would be a little relaxing and help cool her head for the long drive.  
  
Kardi stretched her arm out from under the comforter, the pain and soreness in her body was starting to fade enough for her to move around more. She rubbed her face, yawned, and finally blinked her eyes open. The first thing she noticed was that the bedding was all black and red. Dim lamplight illuminated the room around her displaying a bookshelf and a cabinet on one wall and a large desk on another, all made of some sort of beautiful red wood.  
  
This was not the cabin in the woods she was used to waking up in. In fact, nothing about the room was familiar to Kardi. Her breathing sped up. Her mouth already felt dry and hyperventilating only made it worse, but if she wasn't in the cabin in the woods then _where the hell was she?_  
  
A loud noise accompanied by a familiar tone caught her off guard. Narrowing her eyes, she lifted the heavy comforter off of herself and jumped down from the side of the bed. Kardi padded over toward the wooden desk and saw her cell phone laying face down in the center of it. She grabbed it and clicked the button to bring up the display, then swiped down to view her notifications.  
  
  
_Your energy has been fully restored! Let's get Jumping again!_  
  
  
"Of course," she mumbled to herself. Strangely, that was the only notification the device had to show her. Looking at the signal bar she understood why. It was completely dead. Wherever she was, there was no way she could get online.  
  
There was no way to call for help if she needed it.  
  
She was about to return to the bed to try sleeping her way into another timeline when the door to her right opened. Kardi nearly dropped her phone when Gaster strode into the room, fumbling with it until she clumsily tossed it back onto the desk.  
  
"I'm glad you are awake because I have several questions for you," the doctor waved his hand as he spoke, the other tucked into the pocket of his lab coat. When he stopped in front of her Kardi threw her arms around him. It was stupid but he was warm and comforting and she was just so happy that she hadn't jumped into another timeline again. After what happened with her soul she so was sure that she would have to bite the wood and jump down the hole again.  
  
When she finally let go Gaster ruffled her bangs and put his hand on top of her head.  
  
"Kardi," he started with a serious tone, "what the hell _was_ that?"  
  
"The determination..." Kardi trailed off, then gasped as she remembered her plan from earlier. "I want you to take it out! You can remove it, right?!" She tugged on the sides of his black lab coat and gazed up at him with desperation.  
  
"I already have." He lowered his hand to her shoulder and removed his other hand from his pocket to reveal a vial filled with a bright red.. liquid? It's consistency was strange, and it looked as if it wasn't touching the glass although it sloshed around when he moved it. She quickly backed up and nearly stumbled over the leather desk chair when he moved to hand the vial to her.  
  
"Why are you afraid?" he inquired.  
  
"Because that shit fucks me up!" Oh wow. She said that out loud. Kardi couldn't help it, knowing now that substance is more than likely what caused her to shift between dimensions for so long. It was out of her now. She didn't want to see it ever again, and quite frankly, she felt like she could use a drink. What time was it anyway?  
  
Gaster chuckled at her response to his question. He figured she should still be sore and exhausted from the sheer amount of energy he had to extract from her soul, but as he had noted earlier she was extremely resilient.  
  
"Mind elaborating on that?" he hummed, returning the vial to his coat pocket.  
  
Kardi bit her lip, thinking about where to start explaining something so bizarre. He was a scientist though, right? If anyone could start to believe her it would be him.  
  
"I, uh, have you ever seen the show Sliders?" she started as the doctor lifted a brow in suspicion (how did he do that?). Dammit of course he hadn't seen it, he lived in a damn cave! She decided that show probably wasn't the best analogy anyway.  
  
"Okay," she took a deep breath and stretched a little, looking away from him. Her muscles were still sore and she had to calm herself down to prevent them from feeling worse. She then let out a desperate whine as she found the words impossible to grasp; her mind was shutting down again. However, it remained at a strange halfway point where she was still perfectly coherent, but couldn't properly form the words she wanted to say. In her stress Kardi waved her hand wildly back and forth in front of herself as even her breath refused to leave her body.  
  
Gaster reached out and lightly brushed her restless extremity with his fingertips, which in combination with his softened expression prompted her to calm down. She sighed with relief when he returned his hand to her shoulder. It was strange to her how someone so capable of hurting her could just as easily soothe her. He rubbed against the fabric of her sleeve and then lightly squeezed.  
  
"You do not have to tell me now," he sighed. Kardi grit her teeth with unease. She didn't want to disappoint Gaster but she just couldn't form the words in her current state. Opening her mouth she tried to apologize, but her breath caught in her throat and no sound would come out. Before she was able to breathe again a cheerful ringtone that she didn't recognize caught her off guard. The doctor released her shoulder and retrieved a cell phone from the pocket of his slacks.  
  
"Yes, Alphys?" Kardi could hear a woman's voice on the other end rambling and yelling frantically. Gaster smirked as his gaze flicked down to his coat pocket. "I believe I have just the solution to that. I will be there shortly." He clicked the phone off, returned it to his pocket and looked down at Kardi, humming in thought.  
  
"Nice ringtone," she snickered. Of course her brain would let her say _that_ of all things.  
  
"Kardi," his voice was stern, his expression serious while he spoke. "I cannot take you to Alphys' lab with me, and I don't want to leave you here by yourself."  
  
"What? Why not?" Kardi gulped and glanced around the room. "Isn't this your bedroom or something? Why can't I stay here? I'll play on my phone or something," she started to ramble as the words she had struggled so hard to find earlier came pouring out of her. She didn't want Gaster to leave. Her chest felt tight and it was hard to breathe at the thought of him leaving her alone, and didn't he say that anyone else she saw would try to kill her? As if he had read her mind, the doctor spoke up once more,  
  
"I know of someone you can stay with until I am finished assisting Alphys with whatever new abomination she's created." Kardi shook her head at him. She didn't want to stay with anyone else. Why couldn't Alphys handle her own stupid project? Though, she had to admit she knew nothing about the situation. Perhaps it was something dangerous and only Gaster could fix it.  
  
He wrapped one of his arms around her back and pulled her close to himself, his other hand resting on top of her head once more. Kardi pressed her arms and hands to his sides and gripped his sweater beneath his lab coat. She could feel a sniffle coming up and, oh that was great. Now she was gonna cry for no good reason.  
  
That was, until she felt a sudden rush of air and the doctor's coat fluttering around the two of them before it settled once more. She looked around and saw that they were no longer in his bedroom. The cavern had a high ceiling, and bright red leaves littered the floor around a large tree with bare branches. On the other side of them was a small house that looked neatly kept from the outside.  
  
"Y-you-! We-!" Kardi stammered. Did he just _teleport?!_ He could do that?!  
  
"This isn't the first time," Gaster chuckled. "Do you not remember?"  
  
_Obviously not!_ she screamed internally. That was _really cool,_ as well as _really convenient._ While she was busy squealing internally about how awesome that ability was, he was making his way to the front door of the house. She quickly trotted up next to him once more as he paused at the closed wooden door.  
  
"I must warn you, the Queen can be a bit overwhelming. However I think this will be good opportunity for you to learn a bit about monster history," he addressed.  
  
"Learn _what_ history now?" she panted. She was sweating and felt her adrenaline running at an uncomfortably high speed through her system, and aside from the unappealing idea of getting a classroom lecture did he just say _monster?_ So Gaster wasn't some kind of freaky cave person? Kardi was so confused, but she was drawn from her thoughts when the doctor lifted his hand to knock on the door. She reached across the front of him to grab his hand with both of her own, curling her fingers through the hole in his palm.  
  
"I don't need a babysitter," she scoffed. Gaster peered down at her with his brow lifted, an incredulous expression across his face. He shook his hand out of her grip and readjusted the collar of his coat before knocking on the door without a word.  
  
Kardi shrank back and lowered her head. So that's how it was going to be. She shouldn't have been so whiny and resistant. _Why_ did she have to _upset_ him like that?  
  
_He probably hated her._  
  
"Promise you're coming back?" she muttered in the tiniest voice she had.  
  
  
Gaster winced at the girl's tone but said nothing. She sounded so _devastated_ and he could not understand why. He was only leaving her for a few hours, so there was no reason for her to behave so dramatically. Why did this human's demeanor constantly fluctuate so erratically? He thought before that her high levels of DT had been a part of it, but he extracted such a large amount from her soul that his previous theory held no substance anymore.  
  
So what was causing her extreme shifts in mood? Kardi showed no signs of head trauma from her fall, so it probably couldn't be the result of a concussion. Gaster decided he would have to examine her and her soul more thoroughly after he finished exterminating Alphys' latest creation. What a day. He took a breath and rubbed his brow when the door opened.  
  
  
"Oh my, Doctor Gaster what brings you here?" Standing at the threshold was a _goat,_ woman, _something_ who must have been at least the same height if not taller than the doctor. Kardi realized this must have been what he meant by _monster,_ because she looked monstrous enough. She was covered in white fur that looked slightly disheveled. Her yellowed eyes were wide yet exhausted at the same time, her waterlines red and puffy as though they'd fallen along with her sanity. At least her horns and fangs were modest enough that Kardi figured she didn't have to worry about those. The bottom of her black dress was frayed and beginning to tatter at the bottom from neglect.  
  
It was clear that this woman didn't do the best job at taking care of herself, how was she supposed to babysit?  
  
"Alphys requires my assistance, and I couldn't leave this girl at the lab by herself," Gaster explained as he rested his hand atop Kardi's head. "I would be grateful if you could watch her, Toriel, while I correct the situation in Hotland."  
  
Kardi looked up at the doctor. His smile wasn't sincere, and he seemed to be looking down on the woman before them despite the fact that the two of them were the same height. Come to think of it, didn't he say that she was the _Queen_ earlier? Regardless of that fact it didn't seem as though he liked or respected her very much.  
  
"Well I hope it isn't another robot," Toriel shuddered, then looked down to Kardi with a suspicious smile. "Those things are killing _machines!"_  
  
Kardi just stared up at the monster, wide-eyed with disbelief. Was.. was that supposed to be a joke? It was _terrible._ She didn't think she could put up with that for any amount of time, queen or not, and she didn't know how long Gaster was going to leave her there. The two monsters chuckled at her pun (Kardi was sure the doctor was faking it, his tone wasn't the same as when he laughed at her jokes) before the goat woman spoke up again.  
  
"I wasn't expecting company so soon. I'll have to bake a pie for the occasion!" she beamed. For some reason those words repeated in her head.  
  
  
_Bake a pie..._  
  
  
_"I do know someone who would bake you into a pie."_  
  
  
Wait a minute...was it _Toriel_ he had been talking about then? And now he was gonna leave her with that woman?! Kardi glared up at Gaster and tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. He looked back down to her, fake smile twitching.  
  
_'DO NOT LEAVE ME WITH HER,'_ she mouthed while she nearly pulled his lab coat off his shoulder. He smirked and shook her loose with ease and ruffled her hair before teleporting out of the room  without a word.  
  
"Come inside, my child!" Toriel insisted while she backed into the house gesturing Kardi to follow her. Well, she seemed nice enough behind her less than sane outward appearance. Perhaps being babysat wouldn't result in injury or death for now. Gaster may not have seemed to respect her, but he trusted her at the very least.  
  
Reluctantly, Kardi followed the woman inside and shut the door behind herself. Toriel then rushed her into the kitchen and started piling ingredients on the counter top. One of the things she had pulled out of the fridge she quickly threw back inside with a worried look as though she wanted to hide it. Kardi didn't think she even wanted to know. When Toriel finally had enough of the things she wanted piled on the counter she turned to the human girl with a huge grin plastered on her face. Kardi noted that it looked _'hella' fake._ It was actually making her uncomfortable.  
  
"Now, my child--"  
  
"Kardi," she cut her off. "My name is Kardi."  
  
"Kardi, my child, you can prepare the crust while I work on the filling!" Toriel decided as she dug through a drawer for tools. She handed Kardi a plain-looking rolling pin while she picked out some sort of.. was that a file? But it looked like it was made of polished wood. Kardi had no clue what exactly it was _supposed_ to be, but she deduced that it had no business being in a damn kitchen.  
  
"Uh, no knives?" she queried.  
  
"Oh, _goodness no!"_ Toriel placed her hand over her chest with a gasp. "Those things are much to dangerous! You could hurt yourself, my child!" The large monster gazed down at her, eyes filled with horror.  
  
"Okay, okay," Kardi threw her hands up in front of herself in defense, "I get it. No knives. Danger. Bad." Toriel's expression softened and she moved her hand from her chest, seeming to have calmed down at Kardi's understanding. Once she turned back to the counter to hack at whatever mystery ingredients she was preparing with the dull file (she couldn't tell what they were, but at least two looked like some kind of cooked meat), Kardi began to slowly move the rolling pin over the dough.  
  
_This lady is off her fucking rocker!_ she thought to herself while Toriel rambled on about snails. At least the ordeal was a lot more interesting than whatever the surface had in store for her. What could be more interesting than an underground cave full of monsters? At least she didn't regret the eighteen hour drive. She'd miss her car, but she probably didn't even need it underground. She hoped someone responsible would take care of her baby.  
  
"My child?" Toriel's voice snapped Kardi from her thoughts about her vehicle.  
  
"Sorry what?" she shook her head and met the monster's gaze once again. Toriel had set a glass pie plate on the counter top between their two stations and gestured for the dough to be set inside. Kardi nodded and placed the dough inside the dish, pressing to make sure it sat snug against the rounded edges. Toriel took her mixing bowl and dispensed what she had been mixing into the dish as well. After making sure it was evenly dispersed, Kardi took a second piece of dough she'd rolled and placed it on top, pinching the edges together to help form a seal.  
  
As soon as the pie was prepped Kardi couldn't help but smile. She remembered baking pies with who she guessed was the second woman she called mom, the woman her brother Felix had brought her to when she was little.  
  
What a shame that she turned out to be awful.  
  
Toriel took what Kardi recognized to be a _spork_ out of the drawer in front of her and poked little holes atop the pie crust. Then the goat woman took in a huge breath and held it for a few seconds. Before Kardi even registered what was happening, Toriel released her breath as a stream of flames bellowing from her lungs. The human girl stood there, mouth agape as the pie cooked under the caretaker's questionable method.  
  
Not even a minute passed before the torrent of flames ceased and Toriel turned to face Kardi once more. She was in shock. Never in her life had she imagined magic like that could exist, even though she herself was some sort of freakish quantum jumper of sorts. Breathing flames, however, that was certainly different, even more so coming from some sort of goat woman. Maybe she was the devil. That made as much sense as anything else around her. Kardi was in Hell and Toriel was the devil, so she guessed that would make Doctor Gaster some sort of escort. What a dark joke. She hoped Gaster would be back for her before she started to believe it.  
  
"Now we just have to let it cool. I will make us some tea and we can wait in the sitting room," Toriel stated. "There is a bookshelf if you would like to go pick something out while I prepare the tea."  
  
"R-right," Kardi muttered as she backed out of the kitchen, keeping her eyes on the Queen until she was far enough into the sitting room to know she wasn't being followed. She then walked across the front of the hearth to the bookshelf to pick a book as Toriel had suggested. It's not like there was anything better to do.  
  
Most of them were history books or field guides. Why couldn't this woman have any fantasy or horror novels? Kardi then realized not a whole lot of things one could imagine with fiction must be especially fantastical or scary underground. Reality was terrifying enough to begin with.  
  
When she heard the sound of Toriel's padded feet approaching she quickly scanned the shelf once more. Doctor Gaster had said something about her learning something about _monster history,_ so she grabbed a hard-bound book titled  The Underground Through Time. It seemed vague enough to have most of the basics, and if she was going to please the doctor she had to learn at least some of it. Kardi turned to meet Toriel's soft, yet still unsettling smile a few feet away. She was holding a tray with two steaming tea cups.  
  
"I see you're interested in monster history, my child."  
  
"Yeah I guess," Kardi shrugged. "I mean I should be, right? Since I'm stuck down here and all that." She wouldn't admit that she was doing it for Gaster. What if Toriel asked what their relationship was? What was she supposed to say in response to a question like that?! She felt the blood rushing to her face before Toriel spoke up once again.  
  
"That is correct. The barrier keeps everyone trapped down here." The Queen's face grew solemn as she set the tray on a small side table and reached for a dusty pair of glasses on the mantle, wiping the lenses with her sleeve before putting them on.  
  
"Mind explaining that?" Kardi requested. She moved to pick up one of the cups of tea, and Toriel handed it to her while warning her to be careful as it may have still been hot. Toriel took her own cup and rested in a great reading chair in front of the fireplace while Kardi sat on the carpet in front of her to listen.  
  
"A long time ago, humans and monsters all lived on the surface peacefully. However, humans were not quite as magically adept as we monsters are. They used magic, yes, but they could not match the skill we have as we are much more attuned to our souls, where magic resides. Most humans lacked that harmony between body and soul, and as time passed and they severed the connection further, humans became more cruel. Monsters became more segregated from humans.  
  
"Eventually, war broke out between the two races when the humans realized just how powerful monsters could be. The battle was long, fierce, and many people were lost on both sides. The humans, though not highly attuned to their souls were still much more powerful than us, and their seven greatest mages formed the barrier to seal us away.  
  
"The only way to break the barrier is for seven human souls of the same magical caliber as the ones who sealed us away to come together and will it to be destroyed. However..."  
  
Toriel trailed off and stared into her untouched tea. Kardi nervously tapped the side of her own teacup before bringing it to her face for a sip. It was sweet. Too sweet. Oh well, at least it smelled nice, like flowers.  
  
"However?" she pressed, at this point finding herself genuinely interested.  
  
"The problem is those souls are extremely rare, especially as humans have only distanced themselves even further from magic; Even if one were to fall down here--"  
  
"They would be killed," Kardi cut her off.  
  
"You are very fortunate Doctor Gaster found you first, my child," Toriel sighed.  
  
As if by divine coincidence the doctor materialized beside the Queen's reading chair, his lab coat gracefully billowing around him for a few seconds before settling.  
  
"Salutations, ladies," he grinned putting a hand to his chest. Kardi snorted, the corners of her mouth rising to her ears as she felt her face heat up again.  
  
"Oh, Doctor Gaster! We weren't expecting you back so soon!" Toriel jumped from her chair and set her tea cup back on the tray. "I presume all is well with Doctor Alphys?"  
  
"I delivered advice as well as the best substance available for deterioration of metaphysical beings. She can handle the rest," he explained. Kardi could swear she saw him roll his eyes behind his fake grin.  
  
"My, that sounds dangerous," Toriel shivered.  
  
"Doctor Alphys can handle herself," Gaster huffed. "Are you ready to leave, Kardi?" She nodded furiously in response. Kardi was so happy that he had come back for her that she could just leap out of her skin right then and there, but she could wait until she was alone with the doctor. She didn't want Toriel interrupting their reunion.  
  
"Oh, at least stay for pie you two! It should be cooled enough by now."  
  
_No!_ Kardi screamed internally. _I just wanna go with Doctor Gaster please get me out of here!_ She gulped down the rest of her tea and jumped to her feet, setting the cup back on the tray and promptly latching onto Gaster's coat sleeve.  
  
"At least let me pack each of you a slice," she insisted. "Kardi even helped me make it!" Toriel announced as she padded into the kitchen. The doctor grinned and lifted a brow at Kardi.  
  
"Did you now?" he inquired.  
  
"Y-yeah," she mumbled, hiding her face in the loose material of his sleeve.  
  
"What kind is it?" Kardi could hear him snickering.  
  
"I.. I don't know; I just rolled out the crust." She could tell that Gaster was trying to restrain himself from laughing out loud. Just what in the world was so funny? _What the hell did he know about the pie?!_  
  
When Toriel returned with a decent-sized box with a couple of pie slices inside, the two made a bit more small conversation before Gaster could clearly take no more and said his goodbye. Kardi faked a grin and gave a nervous wave when Toriel insisted that they spend time together again. She could hear the doctor finally release his laughter in the space between venues as they teleported back to his bedroom.  
  
Gaster lightly tossed the box on his desk and spun the leather chair around to sit and spend a few moments composing himself.  
  
**"DO. NOT. EVER. LEAVE ME WITH HER. AGAIN."** Kardi demanded, which only made the doctor laugh harder.  
  
"What's so funny?! _What is in the pie?!"_ Gaster stopped laughing. His eyes remained closed as he rubbed his face and held his hand out, signaling to give him a moment. Kardi crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently. The doctor took a deep breath before opening his eyes and answering with a maniacal grin,  
  
_"Mystery meat."_  
  
"What the fuck?!" Her response threw him into another fit of laughter. Kardi threw her arms in the air, signaling defeat before she paced over to the side of his abnormally large bed and threw herself face-down on top of it with a loud groan.  
  
"I am glad to have you back," Gaster chuckled. She could feel her face and the rest of her body heat up as she smiled and kicked her legs in the air behind herself. When his cell phone began to chirp with its happy ringtone she relaxed to try and listen in on his call.  
  
" _Yes_ , Alphys?" he greeted with exasperation. "What do you mean it's gone? You mean to tell me it's _dead,_ correct? I see. That's.. _very interesting._ Let me know if anything related comes up." Kardi rolled onto her back to sit up as she heard the doctor rise from his chair. She sat herself on his bed, legs dangling over the side.  
  
"What's up, Doc?" she snickered at him.  
  
"I would like to examine your soul again," he stated. His expression had hardened from before, a certain perplexedness defining his features. He moved to removed her soul from her chest as soon as she shrugged in acceptance. She felt the familiar pull of her soul being extracted, but it didn't make her feel sick as it did the first time.  
  
Gaster spent a few moments observing it, tilting it from side to side to get views from multiple angles. All Kardi saw was a warm purple glow with occasional swirls and sparks of blue around the edges. When he seemed finished with his inspection he gently pushed her soul back, his hand lingering on her chest as he seemed deep in thought. Kardi didn't mind, though she was worried he may notice her breathing had quickened.  
  
"I suggest that I continue to monitor the state of your soul," he told her in a clinical tone. "Though I extracted most of your Determination, removing all of it would be an extremely dangerous procedure. The risks are high and should you become ill your body would not be able to heal. Even the levels I took you down to are dangerously low."  
  
"I guess I can understand that," Kardi responded. Gaster looked so serious, and he seemed to honestly want the best for her. He removed his hand from his chest to rub his chin for a moment for he spoke up again,  
  
"Doctor Alphys used the DT I gave her to destroy her latest creation. _Your DT._ Except, instead of disintegrating as we've normally seen with DT injections in monsters, this thing just.. disappeared. I do not understand it." Kardi's eyes widened with horror.  
  
"It jumped," she muttered. Not only did that horrible magic affect her, but now she had learned it could affect others as well.  
  
"Care to elaborate?"  
  
"I..." she trailed off. How could she even begin to explain something like that? Even now that she was _sure_ Gaster would believe her, the words just didn't want to take form. She put her face into her hands and huffed with anxiety.  
  
Kardi felt the bed depress next to her, the doctor's slacks touching her bare thigh and the heat he produced making her blush. He put his hand on the back of her head and waited patiently for her to find the words.  
  
"I sorta quantum leap? Is that what you're supposed to call it?" she started. "I move to new dimensions a lot. I like to call them timelines, because they're all really similar for the most part. It's not like I wake up one day and suddenly aliens have enslaved humanity, but I mean jumping is still really stressful and stuff." Kardi hoped that was a good enough response, because she couldn't think of a whole lot else to say.  
  
"You are not a constant in this universe," Gaster hummed, a certain melancholy in his tone. He moved his hand from the back of her head to wrap his arm around her shoulders and grip her bicep. "I can understand where you are coming from."  
  
Kardi could feel tears pooling in her eyes. Not only had she told him about her curse but he _believed_ her and she already felt so much better. She leaned closer to him and gripped the soft fabric of his sweater and let herself cry while he held her and stroked her hair and he was just so _unbelievably kind_ she couldn't believe it.  
  
How was it that this man was anything more than just a dream?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gaster: did you have fun while i was gone?  
> kardi: THAT LADY'S CRAZY! NUTS! THE BIG CUCKOO CLOCK!  
> gaster: haha i knew you'd like her  
> kardi: THAT'S NOT FUNNY!!
> 
> i thought this chapter was a great idea until i realized i hate toriel and then i suffered for 4 days to get this finished
> 
> Edit: It's been several days and I find it important to point out that uh, Gaster is not all Kardi is hyping him up to be. He's not this beautiful wonderful perfect nice doctor man. May I also remind everyone that these two have only known each other for a few hours. Chapter 5 will start to address Kardi's delusions (for lack of a better word). This has been a PSA.


	5. [E] Easy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's hang out in the bedroom and play 20 questions! What could possibly go wrong?!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welp...I tried. This took me so long to write. Gaster's a great muse but damn.
> 
> Also in case anyone wants a better visual of Kardi: https://medibang.com/picture/ae1604280346589810000768267

The girl had finally stopped crying on him. Gaster could tell she hadn't fallen asleep, she was just calmly breathing against him while they sat beside each other on his bed. It was strange that she had managed to grow so attached to him in a few mere hours. There was nothing he had done to her to warrant that kind of behavior, yet she had still chosen to cling to him despite the fact that he could have tortured her until she was on the edge of death and then ripped her soul from her barely breathing body, preferably with his fangs around her neck and her thighs pressed against his hips.

  
He still could have if he wanted to, but he saw no logical reason to assault or kill her. It wasn't worth it to him just yet to destroy her over one fleeting moment of ecstasy, a moment he already knew well. Though her soul may have been useless to the future of monsterkind, Doctor Gaster still had a hunch about it that he wanted to see through. It didn't hurt that he would get to enjoy teasing the girl for a bit longer, either.

  
Kardi shifted and let go of the doctor before tucking her legs underneath herself and rolling flat onto the bed. When she mumbled something Gaster leaned back to try to understand what she was saying, though it was impossible with her face pressed against the sheets. When he asked her to repeat herself she slammed a fist into the blankets and rolled onto her side.

  
"Sorry," she muttered.

  
"For what?"

  
"Crying and shit. This is all awkward now." Her eyes darted to look up at his face for a split second before staring back down at nothing. She started to wipe off her face with her shirt when she couldn't find anything else to say. Perhaps it was a bit awkward.

  
"It is only natural for you to be stressed," he reassured her. "Interdimensional travel isn't the most pleasant experience."

  
"Well no shit," Kardi sighed. She then rolled over to lift herself onto her knees and shuffle closer to Gaster. "What the fuck do you know anyway?"

  
_Clingy, crying, now suddenly aggressive. Intriguing..._

  
"I am a scientist," he reminded her. "I know a thing or two about quantum physics." Kardi grabbed one of the lapels of his lab coat and pulled him closer to her face, her eyes narrowed with frustration.

  
_"You don't know shit."_ Her lips were so close to him that he thought for a moment he should take her right then and there, but that wouldn't do any good. No, he believed it would be better for himself to wait and see how changes in her soul could develop over the next few days. If nothing happened, then he could take her. He probably wouldn't even need to force himself on her, at least not until the end. For the moment however, he had to convince her to release him before he lost control of himself.

  
"Nor do you, human," Gaster growled. The girl backed off and threw herself face down into the pillows with a growl of her own, but soon decided to roll onto her back with a heavy sigh. The doctor was about to stand up and take his leave to work on another project when she spoke up once again.

  
"We're both right." Kardi sat upright and crossed her legs, arranging the pillows against the headboard to lean back on them. "How about we, uh," her hand waved up and down in front of her chest while she tried to find the words, "learn more? About each other, I mean."

  
"What are you suggesting?" he asked. The girl hissed and slapped her waving hand to the comforter beneath her, then retracted it with wide eyes as if surprised by the noise. Gaster could feel his expression soften as he hummed at her strange behavior. He kicked his shoes off and swung his legs onto the bed, shrugging off his lab coat and moving to sit next to her in the spot she had hit.

  
"Is this what you wanted?" When Kardi nodded her confirmation and leaned closer he rested his hand on her bare thigh, the heat radiating through his fingertips. Her skin was so soft he found himself mindlessly stroking it with his thumb. The girl moved both of her hands to trace the edges of the hole in his own, the act seeming to have a soothing effect on her. Soon she was able to find her words again.

  
"So here's my idea," she started, "it's kinda like a game, or more like show and tell. We just kinda go back and forth asking questions about each other one at a time. Cool?" Gaster chuckled at her casual attitude.

  
"What if one of us doesn't want to answer?"

 

"You got any alcohol?"

 

The doctor shook his head.

  
"Well, I'll answer anything. I'm a pro at oversharing!" Kardi declared. The doctor thought to himself that such a thing wasn't exactly something to be proud of, but he accepted it. He would humour the human girl for now, but if she asked for information he wasn't willing to divulge.. well, he would decide what to do with her when the time came. For the time being he thought it best to start with the basics and hope she would become bored.

  
"What brought you to the Underground?" he asked.

  
"Wow that's a fucking _boring_ question!" she laughed. "Heard it's a great vacation spot! Y'know, _monster tourism_ and shit!" He grinned at her while she moved one hand to her chest to try quelling her own laughter while gripping his own hand with the other. "Fine, if you _must_ know it was an accident. I took an eighteen hour joy ride and ended up getting spooked up the mountain where I fell down the rabbit hole. Speaking of," Kardi lifted Gaster's hand off her her thigh and into the air in front of the two of them, "what's the deal with these?" She nodded a gesture to the hole through his hand.

  
"Experiments gone awry," Gaster stated.

  
"Care to be more specific? Like an explosion or something?" she pressed.

  
"No."

  
"Forgot to wear gloves? No glove no love, bud. Basic chem one shit!"

  
Gaster sighed and palmed his face with his free hand, or at least as much as he could with the gaping hole through the extremity. He winced as he opened his eyes to look through it.

  
"Aaww come on," the girl whined.

  
"I answered the question, did I not?" he contended. She huffed in defeat and returned his hand to her lap where she began tracing the edge of the hole once more. It was curious how a human could manage to grace him with affection without any hesitation the way Kardi did.

  
"Why are you not afraid?" The question slipped out. Gaster hadn't meant to ask anything personal. He didn't want to know about her, didn't want any kind of excuse to grow attached to her. It was bad enough that he already knew her name. If he decided to murder her he would never be able to forget.

  
"You're actually nice to me," Kardi smiled as she stopped tracing his hand. "You may have this deathly aura about you, but the way you smile at me is completely different from how you smiled at Toriel. You laugh at my jokes like you mean it and you just let me be _me_ without any criticism."

  
"I am not what you're making me out to be," he muttered. He couldn't decide if she was being naive or if the girl was just completely stupid. There wasn't a creature alive who didn't fear Doctor Gaster, the monster powerful enough to pull himself from the void, the man who didn't care who he had to kill to get that power. For such a delicate creature to imprint on him the way she did, she must have been stupid.

  
"What do you know about jumping between dimensions?"

  
There she went again, prying into business that wasn't hers to know.

  
"I've already told you that I am knowledgeable in the field," he grit his teeth while Kardi moved to face him with a pained scowl.

  
"You're dodging the question. Why don't you just tell me?"

  
"I did tell you. I've worked with the science behind it," he reiterated, glaring daggers at her in return. His hands twitched at his sides, and Gaster knew he wouldn't last much longer with the girl testing his patience. It didn't help that she moved closer to him, placing her hands above his knees to balance herself as she kneeled on the bed.

  
"You're full of shit," she hissed. "If that was the case then why did you say you _understood_ the way you did?" The girl looked so serious the doctor wanted to laugh at her. What in the world would such a small, vulnerable girl be able to do to him? What did she even expect from him? Placing her trust in him so easily was going to be her downfall. Perhaps killing her now would be a mercy.

  
"I refuse to answer that."

  
"You gotta!" Kardi shrieked, and the doctor's patience finally shattered. Gaster gripped her wrists, lifting her hands in the air over her head before bringing himself to his knees and leaning his body against hers. He kept pressing forward until she was on her back, wrists pinned to either side of her head and his chest firmly pressed against hers where he could feel her breathing pick up in speed.

  
"I don't _'gotta'_ do anything," he breathed, his fangs brushing over her lips. She took in a tiny gasp at the sensation. He propped himself on an elbow, and releasing one of Kardi's wrists moved to trace her jawline, then down her neck and stopping at her collarbone as he remembered her reacting to being touched there before. Her face grew redder as he tapped his index finger on the sensitive spot, and he caught her swallowing in anticipation. She was so willing, so _yielding._ Gaster grinned down at her, rolling his tongue over his fangs.

  
"Would you really like to know?" Before giving her a chance to answer he moved his hand further down her chest. He brushed over her breast before groping at her ribs while he bent his face down to gloss the length of her collarbone with slick, violet magic, the action drawing a moan with her breath. The doctor felt Kardi's free hand gripping tightly at the sleeve of his sweater, clutching tighter when he moved his hand back up to massage her breast through her shirt.

  
He lapped at her clavicle again, this time tracing a slick line up her neck before raising his face to meet her eyes once more, the trail of saliva breaking off as he curled his tongue back into his mouth. Her gaze was lidded and she panted with lewd moans just below his crooked, half-open smile. Gaster used one of his legs to push hers apart, settling his knee gently against her soft heat, and she shifted to meet him. Kardi's actions provoked him to further press into her which rewarded him with more of her lustful whimpering.

  
"Answer the question," he breathed over her lips. He brushed his fingertips across the front of her throat, gently gripping the sides of her neck with the feigned threat of asphyxiation (though he thought to himself the bluff was probably lost on her). The girl's lips curled into a smirk as she stared at him and declared,

  
"I refuse." Gaster's grin deepened, as did his grasp on her throat. He dipped his face back down, replacing fingers with fangs while he moved his hand underneath her shirt to tease her through her bra. He shifted his leg to rub against her through her shorts which she shamelessly reciprocated without hesitation. Kardi moaned and grasped at the back of his sweater with such _desperation_ and he could feel himself tightening against his own slacks at her movements. It took an amazing amount of self control not to sink his fangs into her neck and force himself inside of her. No, Gaster was in no hurry this time.

  
_"You 'gotta',"_ he panted against her throat before grazing her jaw, coating it with more violet magic. When he met her gaze with his own she smirked and shook her head. It seemed as though she may have been playing with him in her own way, knowing her rebellion would be met with more of his fondling. Despite not wanting to give in to temptation, the doctor was more keen on giving her a better reason than defiance for not answering his question.

  
Gaster moved his hand from her breast down to her shorts, making quick work of the drawstring bow before sliding his hand underneath the fabric, and god _damn_ she was _dripping_ with desire. The slick feeling was so inviting he couldn't help but thrust two of his fingers inside of her immediately, inciting a lewd gasp between her lips. He slid his tongue into her mouth, never fighting against but pleasantly wrestling with hers. Kardi moaned and panted into him while he continued to pump his digits against her tightening walls.

  
When he hit her deep with a particularly hard thrust she arched with a loud mewl, the sound reminding him of something. The doctor slowed his movements, but didn't stop as he broke their kiss to look at her, right wrist still pinned beside her dark red hair, face flushed and her eyes shut tight while her chest heaved with labored breathing.

  
She was so unlike _them._ Gaster didn't have to force himself on Kardi, she was already willing. Would she have been so willing if it was the same situation as back then?

  
He imagined a fool of a human opening a gray door in the middle of nowhere, their long black hair parted to one side and settled over their chest. Then he remembered the sparkle in their blue eyes dying out as he convinced them that the two of them were trapped in the void for eternity. He remembered how he had lied to them about never seeing any humans before them.

  
He remembered being buried deep inside of them as they fought through tears to try forcing him to hear their name. Even as he tore their soul from their body they still managed to whisper it on their dying breath.

  
He was thankful that he had been too distracted by the sparkling sea green energy in front of him to commit their name to memory.

  
However, Gaster knew that he would never be able to forget Kardi if he murdered her. Hell, he hadn't forgotten the last human he'd fucked and killed. He was just so desperate to get out of the purgatory he was in, and he blamed the humans for his situation. When a human soul managed to somehow be torn apart by the core it only fueled his lust for revenge.

  
But he had no reason to blame Kardi, no reason to harm or kill her. Shit, he actually _enjoyed_ being around her. Her strange behavior must have been rubbing off on him because _why the fuck_ did he _feel_ this way about a human he had just met? Why was he worried about her finding out about murders he committed in the past? Whether or not she would _forgive_ him if she knew? Gaster was drawn from his thoughts by a desperate whine beneath him.

  
"Why did you stop?" the girl whimpered. Kardi moved her free hand under the fabric of her shorts and caressed his own, once again tracing the hole. Slowly she pressed his hand forward, urging him to continue moving within her. A soft whisper left her lips,

  
"Please..."

  
_Fuck it._

  
If she was going to hate him anyway, he may as well enjoy the best of her now.

  
He rammed his fingers back into her, ushering a cry along with a low moan. Then he curled them about halfway down before repeating the motion which caused her to arch again.

  
"Your trust is misplaced, honey pot," Gaster chided her. When she clutched her fingers through the hole in his hand he stopped his rutting to grab her wrist and pin it back to the bed, slipping his tongue back through her lips once more. Kardi whined at the loss of sensation, slowly moving her hips in vain and lashing her tongue against his to compensate. He moved his own hips forward to press his growing arousal against her, pulling away from their kiss with a trail of purple magic between them before releasing her arm to push his fingers into her mouth.

  
He lowered his head back down to her shoulder and grazed his fangs against her soft flesh. She still smelled of the golden flowers in the ruins as well as something else that was strangely familiar. The scent was soon washed out by the coppery taste of blood when he sank his fangs into her, and Kardi flinched with harsh tug at the collar of his sweater.

  
He dragged his fingers from her mouth to listen if she would protest, but as he thrust his hips against her she only let out a high-pitched moan, no screaming, no tears.

  
No _stop._

  
Gaster lapped at the wound he'd made almost apologetically, silently chastising himself for doing so. Why should it matter to him how Kardi felt? She was nothing more than a plaything to do with as he pleased because there was nothing she could do to stop him.

  
Two summoned hands appeared to assist in pulling her shorts down while the doctor moved to the side to allow them to come off. When he resettled himself between her legs he felt a smaller hand, _her hand_ tugging at his belt and he found himself smirking at her struggle to loosen it. Gaster only made it even more difficult for her when he pushed aside the fabric of her panties to explore her soaked folds with his fingers, teasing her clit and her entrance simultaneously.

  
_"Fuck!"_ Kardi cried out while she yanked at his belt. He couldn't contain his amusement when she rammed her thigh against his own in frustration. Laughing, the doctor thrust a finger inside of her but quickly retreated it. He repeated the motion a few times until she bucked her hips toward him, her bottom lip pushed out in a pout at his teasing.

  
Gaster hummed and shook his head as he lifted her wrist from his belt. He leaned back on his knees, pulling her up to a kneeling position as well. Placing both of her hands at his belt buckle, he assisted her in loosening it. As soon as it was unfastened he shoved her down onto her back once more, unbuttoning his slacks on his own. It didn't stop Kardi from incessantly tugging at his belt loops, and he once again had to summon an extra pair of hands to pin her wrists above her head for a moment as to allow himself to pull his erection free of his clothing.

  
Violet magic was already beginning to build up at the tip. Gaster dipped his thumb in the thick substance and spread it over the head of his glowing cock, though the girl was so drenched on her own it was hardly necessary. He positioned himself between her legs, moving her panties aside and probing her with a finger once more before pressing himself against her entrance.

  
"H-hey!" The doctor felt a rough tug at the collar of his sweater. "I can't see you," Kardi whined.

  
"Does it matter?" he groaned.

  
"Yes!" she insisted. He so badly just wanted to ram inside of her with his cock; he was already _there_ and all it would take was a single thrust forward to force her to accept it his way, accept that she couldn't defy him, and he knew that she would take it and still enjoy it. However, Gaster pushed forward slowly to bury the head of his shaft in her folds, testing to see if he would be met with more resistance.

  
He wasn't.

  
Kardi cursed and whined and moved her hips with a desperation to be filled while continuing to pull at his collar. She never asked him to stop or to see his face again. He was met with little resistance as he moved his hips again, sliding further within her wet heat. Pulling back, he grinned at the sound of Kardi begging him to fill her (though the way she said it wasn't quite so tame).

  
At this point, who was he to deny her?

  
With a harsh thrust he buried his cock inside of her, the desperate groan that escaped him synchronizing with her lewd cry. Then he pulled back and slammed into her again, the both of them groaning and cursing with pleasure. Gaster slowed down to a soft, steady rhythm to catch his breath. Kardi felt so amazing around him, especially as she rolled her hips around his shaft in calculated motions that made his fingers twitch and coerced another lustful sigh from him as he caught himself before nearly groaning her name.

  
He pulled back again to deliver a deep, angled thrust that made her cry out _his_ name and buck hard against him, something in his sweater popping as she curled the fabric in her fist trying to drag him closer to her. He reached for her hand, unfolding her grasp and lacing his fingers between hers to placate her while she panted and moaned and _fuck she felt so good, so much better when she was receptive and begging for more._

  
Gaster quickened his motions, slamming hard against her womb and forcing out more of her high-pitched moans and curses. Her nails were digging into his hand, but he hardly noticed beyond the frenzy of lust that overcame him. He curled the fingers of his free hand in her red hair, and with a desperate grunt he hilted inside of her, pressing his hips firmly into her soft flesh. Kardi grinded herself against him, her thighs tightening around him as her panting became labored, her moans more desperate, her walls clenching around his throbbing erection before she arched with a final, explicit cry.

  
He felt the tension in her muscles release, her nails unburrowing from the back of his hand. Soft whimpers accompanied her heavy breathing.

  
He began to slowly move once more, pulling out almost entirely before sliding back in with agonizingly controlled motion, drawing out her orgasm as much as possible to prolong her blissful moans. With one more thrust he let himself finish inside of her, the sensation causing her to gasp and clench his hand again which he reciprocated as he separated from her heat with reluctance.

  
Never had Gaster felt so satisfied as he did after Kardi. The wave of gratification that overcame him was like nothing he'd ever felt before, and he absentmindedly slid his body down to look at her face.

  
She was blushing, _smiling_ , and he kissed her again, their tongues tangling with each other as she lifted her hand to stroke his face. The whole situation was so sickeningly sweet and the doctor lost himself to euphoria, to her touches that felt like silk against him. When he pulled back to gaze at her half-lidded, sleepy expression, he also used his free hand to ruffle at her bangs. Kardi giggled and, _dammit was she this cute?_

  
"Hey there," she purred, placing a chaste kiss on his chin.

  
"Hey, yourself," Gaster chuckled.

  
"You gonna talk to me about interdimensional shit now?"

 

  
_And the illusion shattered._

  
_He rediscovered that pit of bitterness within himself._

  
_He imagined a lost, frightened human opening a gray door._

  
_He remembered lying to them, betraying them..._

 

  
**_...v i o l a t i n g  and  m u r d e r i n g  t h e m._ **

 

  
**_He was filled with so much hate and resentment._ **

 

  
**_Kardi would  n e v e r  forgive him._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the most explicit thing I've ever written. Even my Zed/Syndra fic wasn't this detailed. Even my chaster fics aren't this detailed.
> 
> But for real I don't last very long in bed (which is strange for vagina-folk apparently?). So uh, sorry if it's short? Is it short? I can't tell.
> 
> ANYWAY IT'S SUFFERING TIME! (also here's some great muse moments from this chapter):
> 
> Gaster: green means GO, FUCKER!
> 
> Kardi: we haven't even held hands yet :c  
> Gaster: i am literally inside of you i don't understand what more you want from me


	6. But Somebody Came

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kardi meets an old friend, as well as some new ones.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like to think that Temmie is a universal constant, like Underfell can't make Temmie evil.
> 
> I didn't want to label this chapter as explicit, because even though something sexually explicit happens toward the end it's _super_ short and not what the entire chapter is about.

"Hey," Kardi squeezed the doctor's hand. The violet lights in his sockets dimmed each time he blinked, and though his gaze was focused on her his mind seemed to be elsewhere. She shifted her hand on his face, tapping with her pointer finger. When he didn't respond to that she lightly patted at him. 

 

Gaster blinked again and stared at her for a moment before rolling off of her, then off the bed to re-fasten his slacks and adjust his sweater without a word.

 

"Um, Doc?" Kardi questioned. His silence  _ really _ wasn't reassuring to her at the moment. Of course she  _ knew _ that what they'd done had come far too soon (had she even been there a day?), but she'd be damned if she didn't enjoy herself and she’d already learned long ago to not regret these things.

 

He liked it too, right? She sat up and clutched her chest. Perhaps his silence was from disappointment. That was the only thought that could occupy her mind; She was a lousy lay and now the doctor was through with her. Kardi put her reddening face in her hands and took a deep breath to calm herself down. That couldn't possibly be the reason.

 

"K-Kardi to Gaster, anybody there?"

 

_ Please answer. _

 

Moisture pricked at the corners of her eyes, threatening to wet her cheeks. Gaster whirled back to face her when she sniffled.

 

_ "I'm sorry,"  _ she blinked and the tears began to fall. The harder she tried to hide them and push them back down, the more they came. The situation was so different from the shameful afterparty encounters she was used to.

 

Doctor Gaster was used to making people cry; every human he had ever encountered certainly did. 

 

But,  _ fuck  _ why was she crying? He hadn't done anything to hurt her.

 

_ Not yet. _

 

The logical thing to do would be to kill the girl and keep her soul for further study (even more so because something was definitely wrong with her), but he was selfish. It was this selfishness that was keeping her alive somehow, even with her ugly sobs grating on his mind.

 

_ Please stop crying. _

 

"What do you have to be sorry for?"

 

"I-I don't know," she hiccupped. "I just feel really stupid right now. You  _ hate _ me now, don't you?"

 

Gaster didn't hate her; Hell, he didn't even  _ know  _ her. However what he did know is that he just wanted her to stop sobbing, to gather herself and figure out exactly  _ what _ she was feeling because he sure as hell couldn't figure it out and it was starting to give him a migraine.

 

"No, no I don't hate you," he leaned forward to cup her face and wipe a tear away with his thumb, though it was quickly replaced by several more.  _ I’m just  c o n f u s e d . .  .  _

 

But the royal scientist couldn’t admit that.

 

Hell, he couldn’t even  _ think clearly.  _ He felt as if his mind was drowning in a sea of thick fog, and the girl’s crying was only making it more intolerable.

 

Gaster felt  _ pained for her. For her? _

 

_ Did he care how she felt? _

 

_ He needed to be   _ **_A W A Y_ **

  
  


It was too fast. The doctor had made his way to the door, he was  _ leaving  _ and Kardi didn’t know what to  _ do  _ so she rushed to put her shorts back on and jam her feet into her boots and follow him but--

 

**“D O N ’ T ”**

 

Gaster’s voice had an odd static behind it, and a crackling that made her stop in her tracks. When she found the courage to approach him again he spun around and grabbed her,  _ growling,  _ and teleported them somewhere new.

 

Kardi clinged to his sweater; she  _ begged  _ him to tell her what was wrong  _ (she would fix it, she would change just please) _ and he  _ shoved her away  _ and disappeared, leaving her alone in the muggy cavern. 

 

She leaned against a nearby pillar and wrapped her arms around herself. What had she done wrong this time? If Gaster would just tell her what she’d done wrong she could fix it, she would do whatever he wanted because he had  _ saved  _ her.

 

Just breathing was starting to become difficult. Tears still flowed down her face like a waterfall. Screaming pressure filled her head, and she was panting and gasping but it still felt like she wasn’t getting any air. Kardi slid to the ground, clutching her arms tight around her chest. She just wanted the doctor to come back. He wouldn’t leave her alone out here, would he?

 

Of...of course he would come back. He’d told her himself that any other monster who found her would kill her on the spot. He must have cared for her to some extent to have his way with her like that. Maybe he just had some sort of embarrassing after-sex routine that he didn’t want her to know about. A light giggle escaped between her breaths, and as she convinced herself that he would be coming back the faucet behind her eyes finally shut off.

 

Kardi took a few deep breaths to regain her composure, lips quivering as she slowly exhaled.  _ It would be fine. _

 

She pawed at her shorts pockets for her phone to distract herself with, but she couldn’t find it. It must have gotten left behind when she jumped to follow Gaster.

 

“Wow! You made it all the way to Waterfall and you’re not dead yet!”

 

Kardi let out an inelegant squawk before attempting to scramble away from the voice. Unfortunately her attempt was met with her knee slamming into the pillar she had her back against. Hissing with pain, she grabbed her leg to evaluate the damage: a small cut, and it would definitely bruise. She glared back up to see the yellow flower from that morning.

 

“Jesus  _ fuck,  _ Flower! Don’t sneak up on me like that!”

 

“It’s Flowey.”

 

“Whatever,” she grumbled under her breath, picking at the loose skin on her knee.

 

“I can’t believe you forgot my name already,” his petals drooped as he bent his stem, “but it’s okay! Not everyone is good with names!” He perked back up, a strained smile on his face. “So whatcha doin’ sitting out here alone in the open? Haven’t you made a lot of friends to have gotten this far?”

 

Kardi shifted her position back to lean against the pillar again. The moisture from the ground beginning to soak into her shorts was becoming uncomfortable, adding to the mess that she already was. She was really starting to wish she could take a shower. “I’m just waiting for the doctor to come pick me up.”

 

“Doctor?”

 

Kardi sighed and moved her arm in an exaggerated half-bow, as much as she could bow while sitting down. “Doctor W.D. Gaster,” she declared, “Royal Scientist.”

 

Flowey’s stem nearly folded in half as he reeled back from her in horror. “G-Gaster?!” he sputtered. “You’ve met Doctor Gaster?!”

 

She narrowed her eyes in confusion at the cowering Flower. “Uh, yes?”

 

“And you’re still alive?!”

 

“What’s the big deal?!” Kardi shouted back at him. This thing really got on her nerves, acting like he was her friend yet constantly judging her choices. He stretched uncomfortably close to her, observing the fresh bite wound on her shoulder.

 

“Not from lack of trying, I guess. Look, uh,” Flowey paused, stroking a petal with one of his leaves. “Shit, what was your name again?”

 

Did.. did the flower just fucking  _ swear _ ? Something wasn’t right. He acted all cheerful and like he wanted to be her  _ best friend  _ or whatever, but there was something else underneath that innocent facade, something bitter that unnerved her.

 

“Stay away from him.” The flower’s voice deepened. He was staring at the ground, petals drooping almost enough to conceal his hardened expression.

 

“And why should I listen to you?” she interrogated. It’s not like he had helped her even once throughout her experiences in the Underground, unlike Toriel. Although she was definitely crazy, she seemed to know and respect Gaster more than this pretentious plant. Flowey straightened up and turned back to Kardi with a serious look. His black eyes felt like they were piercing through her, looking past her eyes and even deeper inside of her.

 

“That man is a psychopath. Just look what he’s done to your soul, like you’re an open tap for Determination.”

 

Kardi grit her teeth. How the fuck did he know that the doctor had extracted power from her soul? Besides, Gaster had  _ saved  _ her by removing that wretched substance. He had even told her himself that he didn’t extract enough to actually hurt her. The flower clearly just had a grudge against him, and that’s why he was saying such harsh words. She didn’t want to hear it.

 

“If you’re gonna talk shit then just make like a tree and leave. I’m sure you’d be good at that, being a plant and all.” Flowey ducked underground only to resurface in front of her a few seconds later.

 

“He’s going to kill you, Kardi.”

 

“Fuck off!” She grabbed a loose crystal from the ground next to her and chucked it at the flower, but he ducked away and disappeared beneath the earth before the rock could strike him. “Asshole,” she grumbled.

 

Still looking at where Flowey had been rooted, she started to notice movement in the darkness. A soft blue glow hovered in the air, bobbing up and down. Soon Kardi realized that the light was moving closer to her. As it approached it became more apparent that there was a small body attached to the light.. perhaps a dog?

 

_ Oh no, oh god no please don’t let it be a dog!  _ Kardi curled in on herself, bringing her knees to her chest and holding her breath as the creature continued to bound toward her and,  _ shit it was a dog! _ Or at least something close enough to a dog that she began to shake in place. 

 

The creature slowed as it approached her, and she closed her eyes and pressed her face behind her legs, tucking her limbs away as best she could.  _ Please, please just turn around and walk away!  _ The pawed footsteps came to a stop in front of her, followed by a soft clink. Kardi slowly lifted her head to see the crystal she had thrown at Flowey. She then gathered enough courage to bring herself to look at the creature in front of her.

 

It had the general shape of a dog; it stood on all fours and was probably the size of your average pitbull, but it certainly didn’t  _ look  _ anything like a dog. For one thing it had a full head of shiny black hair.

 

“h0I!!” it yelled, “iM tEMMiE!”

 

“W-what?” Kardi gasped, finally beginning to breathe again. Whatever this...Temmie was, it didn’t seem like she was going to hurt her.

 

“tEMMiE huNgRY! g0 2 TEM SHOP foUR tEM fLaKES!” Temmie started to vibrate with.. anticipation, she guessed. Or maybe she was having a seizure from low blood sugar. Kardi wasn’t the best with social cues.

 

“Tem what?”

 

“yaYA wE VISiT tEM sH0p!”

 

“We?” Kardi pointed to herself.

 

“tEMMiE briNg aH KaY00t!h00mAn! EVerYoNe EXCITE!” Temmie bounded back and forth, still vibrating.

 

“A-alright, alright, we’ll go to Tem Shop. Just chill out okay?” Temmie made an excited noise somewhere between a squeal and a growl and jumped in the air as Kardi rose to her feet, her legs still a little shaky while Temmie enthusiastically guided her to the village. It turned out it wasn’t far. In fact, the pillar she had been leaning against had been one side of the gate the entire time.

 

The village itself was underwhelming. It was a humble place, and there were many more Temmies to greet Kardi as she walked through the village, all with the same strange demeanor. As kind as they all were she was started to become uncomfortable with so much social interaction and being pet. The first Temmie she’d met had disappeared amongst the crowd soon after they had left Tem Shop (she’d at least treated Kardi to a bag of Tem Flakes, which were really just torn up pieces of cardboard and confetti).

 

One of the Temmies seemed to notice her distress and offered to show her to a nearby inn. It was a nice place, carved into the cavern wall and marked by simple pillars and crystals. Kardi walked up to the front desk and rang the bell.

 

“h0I! iM tEmMiE!” the desk Temmie announced.

 

“Hey, I’m sorry I don’t have any cash on me, but my uh…” she trailed off. Could she call Gaster her boyfriend? It would certainly be nice but, no way it was way too soon for that! She lifted her hands to hide her reddening cheeks.

 

"Hnnnn! Ky00t hooMan, stay 4 FREEE!" Temmie shook with excitement, her paws beating on the desk with enthusiasm. She then darted to the board behind her and grabbed a key off one of the hooks with her mouth before darting back to the desk.

 

"Uh, th-thanks," Kardi reached over the counter to take the key from the her before rushing up the stairs to find her room. It was the third door down the hall to her left, and she jammed the key into the handle to let herself in before swiftly shutting the door and locking it behind her. The Temmies were nice and all, but she didn’t want to take any chances. Not when they were so... _ dog-like. _

 

The room was small and humble: a single bed, a nightstand, a reading chair, and a water closet. No shower. Kardi groaned at the idea of staying gross until Gaster came to get her, but at least she could wash her underwear in the sink for now. She walked over to the sink ran warm water, mixing it with some soap before stripping her lower half. Looking at her shorts she figured those could probably use a wash as well.

 

After scrubbing the garments clean, she gave in to the feeling of the warm, soapy water on her hands. She  _ needed  _ a shower. Opening up the cabinet below the sink, she was surprised to actually find a large stack of red hand towels. Stripping the rest of her clothes off she soaked one of the cloths in the warm water before running it over her skin. It felt amazing to get about two days worth of sweat and dirt off of her body, especially after what she’d been through. Of course she could have a real shower later, but this would have to do for now.

 

Kardi wondered what Doctor Gaster’s shower was like. He was a scientist (the  _ royal  _ scientist, at that), so it was probably really fancy and confusing. He’d probably have to accompany her to teach her how everything worked. Accompany her.. in the shower…

 

Her hand brushed over her breast, sparking electricity through her body as she thought of him lathering her with soap. She took a deep breath and gripped at her thigh.

 

_ No, I don’t need to do this right now. He’ll be back for me soon and then we can-- _

 

But her thought was cut off by her own wandering hands. Kardi squeezed the warm washcloth against her collarbone, streams of water dripping down her breasts and her stomach. She moved it to her thigh, stroking the inside of it while she braced against the sink with her other hand.

 

“Maybe just.. a little bit,” she panted. The washcloth had become cool, so she dipped it back under the running water before throwing it over her shoulder to let the warm water run over her sensitive skin. Still braced against the sink she moved her free hand back to her inner thigh, gently easing her way up to where she desired to be touched. Slick moisture began to slip down her thigh and over her fingers, tantalizing her further.

 

Kardi traced the trail up her thigh and over her folds, teasing her clit as she felt herself intimately. She imagined Gaster’s hand guiding her own as she slipped a finger inside of herself, then another. Soon the stimulation was too much to keep herself standing, and she found herself on her knees gasping with pleasure.

 

Of course her own hand was nothing compared to his, but it was still enough to release fireworks within her. Kardi’s vision blurred for a moment, and she collapsed on the floor to catch her breath. After that fantasy she was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, but she dragged herself back up to the sink to finish somewhat cleaning herself first.

 

The doctor was certainly taking his sweet time to come back for her. Maybe he got another emergency call. Science could be a pretty dangerous field, after all. Throwing nothing but her tank top back on she made her way back to the main room and crawled under the blankets on the bed. Just a little nap before Gaster came back...he could wake her up when he got there.

  
  


Kardi woke up to a familiar sound beside her head. Instinctively, she reached out and grabbed her phone off the nightstand and tapped the screen on. The screen was too bright to see the notification, so she had to wait a minute for her eyes to adjust.

 

_ Battery low: 15% _

 

“Ugh, great.” She rolled her eyes only halfway when she suddenly realized something.

 

She’d left her phone in Gaster’s room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The inner machinations of Kardi's mind are an enigma.


	7. A Step in the Wrong Direction

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I thought you said _weast_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not exactly edited, but that's depression for ya.

_ Knock, knock. _

 

_ How long has it been…? _

 

_ Knock knock, knock. _

 

Kardi rolled over. The blankets were completely disheveled and halfway fallen to the floor. Her body was sore and it felt like lead was running through her veins, but she still rose if only to put a stop to the incessant knocking on the door. She grabbed her now dry shorts and underwear and dressed before answering.

 

“h0I!” Temmie, of course, was at the door.

 

“Hey, sorry c-can I just.. stay a few more nights?”

 

“hooMan stAY As L0Ng As tHeY liKE!”

 

Kardi sighed with relief. “Thank you.” As she reached to shut the door, Temmie spoke up again.

 

“ALsO REceIVe THIS!” She hadn’t really noticed before, but atop Temmie’s head was some sort covered dish. Kardi bent down to take it, thanking her as she finally closed and locked the door.

 

The crystals embedded in the walls weren’t enough light to observe what may be under the foil, so she clicked on the lamp on the nightstand. It was probably food, and she certainly wasn’t going to complain about room service, especially when she was staying there for free. She sat on the bed and adjusted the plate on her lap, ready for the big reveal. Peeling back the foil she uncovered a generous helping of spaghetti. It was still warm and she was thankful that it also came with a fork.

 

“Well ain’t that somethin,” Kardi mumbled aloud to herself. Admittedly, she hadn’t seen much food in the Underground, but what she had seen hadn’t struck her as being entirely edible. The pasta before her was a welcome change, despite her despondence leaving her without any kind of appetite. There was no use in wasting free food though. She twirled a few noodles onto the fork and took a bite, frowning while she chewed.

 

It wasn’t bad. In fact, it was delicious. Whoever made it seemed to have put a lot of care into balancing the flavors of the sauce. It reminded her of the spaghetti she used to have at home.

 

_ Home… _

 

Kardi recovered the plate and placed it on the nightstand before throwing herself underneath the blankets. What was she thinking? She didn’t have a home.

  
  


_ "Is it bed time, Kardi?" _

 

"H-huh?! No!" She caught herself nodding off and jerked her head up, stuffing one of her hands in her lap and grabbing her fork with the other. She felt the blood rush to her face when everyone at the table snickered with amusement. It wasn't anything new, she was sleepy a lot.

 

Why was she  _ always _ so sleepy?

 

The girl to her right made a remark about drugs, to which the woman on her left reprimanded her, insisting that she would never partake in such activities. Kardi forced a small laugh and took a sip of her drink. It was too sweet, especially with the coconut rum she’d snuck into it. Next time she’d have to buy a weaker flavor.

 

"Kardi helped me with dessert tonight. I'm so proud of her!"

 

_ Proud of who? Me? I...I didn't do anything praiseworthy… _

 

Kardi felt herself falling asleep again, the world around her blurring into darkness.

  
  


Tears.  _ It stings. _

 

"Did you cut yourself? Here just let me do it."

 

"What, she can't make something as simple as a fruit salad? Kardi's the one who wanted it in the first place! She should have to make it herself!"

 

“She’s only twelve, Kenneth. Give her a break for once.”

 

_ Why should he? You don’t. _

 

_ I wish Felix would come back for me… _

  
  


_ Barking, barking, barking...it won't stop. There are so many dogs. _

 

_ S C R E A M I N G _

 

_ She won't stop  _ **_screaming_ ** _ at them to stop  _ **_barking._ **

 

_ The house is shaking and the doors slam over and over glass is breaking and… _

 

_ Please make it stop please make it stop make it stop make it stop make it  _ **_s t o p_ **

 

**_They’re coming to get me, please--!!_ **

  
  


Kardi jerked awake, panting and grasping at her chest. Her ruby red hair stuck to the sides of her face with sweat and tears. She kicked her legs in a panic, desperate to untangle the blankets from around them. When she was finally free she threw everything including the pillows to the floor. She then leaned against the headboard and attempted to catch her breath, cursing, reminding herself that those timelines were over with. After what Doctor Gaster had done, she’d never jump timelines again.

 

And she’d been grateful for that, until he used her and tossed her aside like she was nothing. Now she was starting to wish that going back to sleep would bring her somewhere else, to give her another chance to start over...but fate was done giving her chances to start over. With no reason to try going back to sleep she put her socks back on and jammed her feet into her boots, zipping them only halfway.

 

_ “If I allow you to leave this facility alone, somebody else will kill you.” _

 

“Maybe it’s for the better,” she sighed. Why couldn’t he just finish her off after making a blushing mess out of her instead of making her suffer like this? Shaking the thought from her head she stuffed her cell phone in her pocket and made her way to the door. Kardi had no idea how long she’d already been at that inn, and anything had to be better than rotting away in that room any longer. With a deep breath, she pushed the door open and left the small sanctuary behind.

 

She didn’t meet anybody on her way out of the hotel, and the village was quiet. However, Kardi hadn’t found herself to be in the mindset to think anything of the lack of Temmie. She simply wandered, not giving any thought to where she was going until she reached the gate where she was faced with the decision of choosing a direction to walk. Perhaps she could have tried to find Gaster’s lab again, but she didn’t have a clue where it was located. Even if she did find it, would the doctor take her back?

 

“Going out by yourself? It’s a scary world out there you know!” Kardi looked down toward the flower addressing her, but not directly at him.

 

“What do you want?”

 

“You’re going to see Dr. Gaster, aren’t you?” Flowey interrogated her.

 

“That’s none of your business,” she spat back, rocking on her heels as she desperately tried to decide whether to start walking left or right. The moisture in the air sent a chill down her spine, and she wrapped her arms around herself as her breathing quickened.

 

“Alright, alright, fine I get it,” he conceded. “Look, I’m just trying to help you out as a friend. I know what that man is capable of.”

 

Kardi ignored him. Of course she knew what he was capable of: miracles. Gaster understood and lifted a curse that plagued every aspect of her life. He must have cared about her if he was willing to do something like that for her. She was free, and all she had to do now was find him again and thank him properly, even if was in her own selfish way. Feeling a little more confident (as well as slightly warmer), she moved to her left a bit before freezing in place.

 

_ No...to the right,  _ Kardi thought to herself as she turned around.

 

“They say your first instinct is usually the right answer.”

 

She glared down at the flower, who shrugged in response before she turned around once again, heading westward away from the village.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trust me guys I have this planned out. I'm just not that great at articulating everything.


	8. Bogeyman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kardi begins her journey to find Dr. Gaster's lab with a companion that's more annoying than helpful. Are they on a path to success, or will they run into trouble on the way?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Seven months? Has it really been that long since I updated this? I'm just as bad as Kardi with the concept of time I'll say that.

Kardi had always known that it was worth the eighty plus US dollars to invest in a pair of hardy, leather combat boots. A cheap pair of boots would have been worn to death in the 3 years that she’d owned them, but even as she walked, kicking at the sharp rocks and crystals littering the damp gravel they still held up with only minor scuffs. The best part must have been the inside lining and support. The feeling of the tiny squish from the insoles as she pressed her feet to the pedals of her coupe had been a welcome buffer to the rush of adrenaline when she was racing on the surface. As she went to kick a particularly dull crystal to the side she put too much force into the motion, causing the side of her boot to slide into the wet gravel like a knife and send her tumbling to the ground. It was a mildly sobering fall, as she could feel the cool stones digging into the flesh of her arm while tiny snickers whispered into her ear from below.

 

“Nice going, Kardi-Klutzo!” jeered the irritating vegetable. Why in the world did he feel the need to follow her around? “Jeez, how long are you gonna lay there anyway?!”

 

“As long as I feel like it,” Kardi mumbled back. With a sigh she rolled over and dug her palms into the gravel, pushing herself to her knees to inspect her upper arm. No real damage, just indentations in the surface of her skin from the rocks. She brushed the ones that had stuck back onto the ground and rose to her feet, stretching her arms behind her back with a deep breath.

 

“Enjoy your little nap there, friend-o? Even if that was a pretty odd place to take one, I hope it was at least enjoyable,” Flowey scoffed as he rolled his eyes.

 

“Oh my god, I fell down and had to compose myself for like, fifteen seconds can you get a grip?” Kardi rolled her eyes to mock him and began walking again, making a mental note not to kick anything to the side anymore, only forward. “Are you sure this is even the right way?” she accused. “We’ve been walking for like an hour!”

 

“It’s been less than ten minutes.”

 

“Bullshit! We left the gate  _ at least _ forty-five minutes ago!” Kardi argued.

 

“Look, I’m trying to be your friend, but you’re being a real bitch today. I’m telling you it’s been ten minutes. Maybe if you weren’t trudging along like a total fucking space-zombie we’d be somewhere by now!”

 

She paused for a moment. Had it really only been ten minutes? It had felt like she walked for nearly an eternity to get where she was, not that she even knew where she was, relative to the Temmie Village or anywhere else for that matter. What she did know was that her entire body felt weak, and she was tired. At least there was some comfort in the sensation of the insides of her boots squishing with that little bit of give she liked as she shifted her weight, scraping the gravel around her feet as she buried them, clenching and unclenching her fists. She grumbled from the frustration of not knowing how to cut back before releasing a short burst of a yell, then a sigh.

 

“Yeah, yeah alright. No more space case.” Kardi slapped her cheeks with both hands a couple of times. Maybe a little too hard because she could feel the heat rising as the blood rushed through her face. “Autobots, roll out.”

  
  


Leaving that entire plate of spaghetti behind was quickly becoming a regret. There was a burning pit in her stomach that was quickly spiraling out of control into an empty nausea. Anything edible would suffice at this point before her body gave up and attempted to purge all of the nothing in her stomach. Shit, she’d even try those  _ Temmie Flakes _ at this point. Kardi clutched her stomach with one arm and used the other to balance herself on the wall while choking back a gag. She scanned the narrow corridor around her. Surely there had to be something edible growing on the wall or the ground like a mushroom, or an onion, or…

 

“Hey,” she choked out before swallowing another gag, “Flowers are edible, right?” Kardi leered at her unwanted companion with a malicious grin. The plant didn’t respond. He didn’t even look at her. Instead he looked through her, more toward the wall behind her as if she were transparent. From what she’d seen he was usually quick with his retorts, so the thousand-yard stare in front of her quickly became very uncomfortable. Suddenly she was feeling self-conscious.

 

“Uh, Earth to Flowey? Do you copy?  _ Dude!! _ ” 

 

“Fuck! Why are you yelling?! Are you trying to get us killed?!” he hissed back.

 

“Sorry...you looked like you were having some kinda Vietnam flashback,” Kardi shrugged. “It was freakin’ me out.”

 

“What? What the hell are you even talking about?”

 

“You’re never too young to have a Vietnam flashback…” Kardi recited as she stared into the distance.

 

“Look, to answer your question just...don’t eat the flowers, okay? None of the flowers down here are edible without preparation. That especially goes for the echo flowers, they’re not edible at-  _ are you listening to me?! _ ” he screamed after her as she moved forward and kneeled in front of a bright blue flower that was at least half her height standing.

 

“It’s so pretty,” she chimed while reaching her hand out to touch it.

 

_ “So pretty...so pretty,” _ the flower sang back to her. Kardi jumped at its response, backpedaling into the opposite wall.

 

“Oh, it’s not sentient you big baby,” Flowey teased. “That’s why they’re called  _ echo _ flowers, get it now?”

 

“How am I supposed to know? I’ve only been here like two days and the only talking flowers I’ve met  are you and that!” She pointed toward the motionless blue petals, still singing back the praise she’d given it as if relishing the complement. She curled her lips in discomfort and looked down to Flowey for some sort of validation to be greeted with a more concerned expression from him.

 

“Two days,” he mused with a smile. “Alright then.”

 

Kardi didn’t even care at that point. Ten minutes, forty-five minutes, two days, a week, two weeks, who the fuck knew anymore? Certainly not her. She was more focused on leaving that echo flower with something even better than a simple compliment, so she kneeled in front of the flower once again. Desperately trying not to giggle, she brought her face close to its petals and in the most serious voice she could muster whispered,

 

“Dickbutt.”

 

She almost lost her mind when the flower whispered it back, having to cover her mouth to keep from laughing hysterically and overwriting her accomplishment. Standing up she moved away from the flower and onward at a brisk pace before she could finally breathe again.

 

It wasn’t much longer until Kardi’s stomach began twisting itself in knots from hunger again. She thought to herself that she could positively rob a pizza joint at gunpoint for some cheesy bread. Well...maybe not with a real gun. An airsoft gun, perhaps; they looked real enough to intimidate without doing any real damage. And then of course she’d pay for the cheesy bread.

 

“Shit man, I want some  _ food, _ ” she groaned, forcing herself to move forward. “I’d even eat that freaky pie that psycho goat-lady Toriel made at this point.”

 

“You know, you sure do fuckin’ whine a lot,” Flowey snarled at her. “Do you want me to steal a popsicle or something for you just so you’ll shut up?”

 

“You can  _ buy  _ me a popsicle out of the kindness of your nonexistant heart, but you can’t steal it.”

 

“Why would I buy it?”

 

“Because stealing is a crime, idiot,” Kardi spit.

 

“Well so is murder, and that’s what’s gonna happen to you if you try to walk up to anyone down here. They’re not after your money, just your soul, and trust me when I tell you that they’ll tear you to pieces. Slowly. Bit by bit they’ll slice into your flesh while you scream for help, and nobody will come to your-”

 

“Christ, I get it!” She stopped in her tracks and held a hand up to her face to block out that creepy plant’s twisted smile as he described her body being violated in graphic detail. She had to choke back a few more gags at the imagery. “I-” Another dry swallow. “I’ll wait here if you get me something.” Another lurch from her stomach. “I won’t ask where you got it from just-” A shake as gas bubble rose into her throat and she painfully swallowed it back down. “Just do it quickly okay?” As soon as Flowey ducked underground, Kardi’s stomach made a  _ very _ audible bubbling noise. A similar noise echoed back from beside her.

 

“Ha ha, very funny echo flower,” she said in an unamused tone. The sound replied again, but this time with more gurgling. Kardi looked around the corridor to see that there were no echo flowers in her immediate field of vision, at least none that could echo a sound that loud.

 

“H-Hello?” she stuttered. The gurgling grew louder, but she couldn’t tell what direction it was coming from. Maybe from the right? She leaned toward the direction, trying to get a better listen to the sickly sound. Without warning something sharp flew into her lap, scratching the inside of her thigh and causing her to scream in shock.

 

**_“Shut up!”_ ** Flowey hissed at her again. “I swear you really  _ do  _ want to get killed, you stupid masochist!”

 

“Well don’t fucking sneak up on me like that!” Kardi retorted with a harsh whisper, grasping at the thing he’d thrown into her lap. The sharpness that scratched her thigh appeared to be the end of a foil wrapper. It wasn’t very cold, so it couldn’t have been ice cream. She turned it over to read that it was some sort of protein bar. Realistically a better choice than ice cream, but she couldn’t help but be just a tiny bit disappointed. She tore open the wrapper and devoured the bar in nearly three bites, despite the dryness of the old peanut butter desperately clinging to the insides of her mouth and throat. Anything was better than the horrible nausea that was ripping through her torso beforehand. After licking the wrapper clean of any old chocolate smears, she jumped to her feet and crumpled it up before stuffing it in her back pocket.

 

“Alright that’s gotta be like, at least twenty HP. Hopefully that’s enough to get me back to the lab.” Kardi stretched her shoulders and legs a bit to test how she felt. A surprising amount of the pain she was in had vanished, but she wasn’t sure if it was the food or just her current demeanor that led to the relief in her muscles.

 

“You know I don’t even know what you’re talking about half the time,” Flowey groaned.

 

“What, HP? Don’t you have video games down here?”

 

“Like I’d waste my time on some mindless garbage like video games,” he scoffed.

 

“Whatever dude. More for me,” she shrugged. Kicking her feet into the gravel a couple of times to make sure she had proper balance on the uneven terrain, Kardi stepped forward. The end of the corridor they were currently treading through was in sight, and she was desperately hoping that Gaster’s lab was getting closer so that she could finally ditch the flower. Yes, ditch the flower and get back to the lab and k-  _ kiss- _

 

As her mind began to wander she nearly stumbled over a larger mound in the soil, not-so-gracefully leaping over it, arms spread straight out beside her as not to lose her footing and faceplant into the dirt. Unable to stick her landing, she stumbled a couple of steps before twisting herself around to face Flowey with his mouth slightly agape. She was certain it was because he was impressed by her feat, so she smirked with pride.

 

“Like a majestic fucking eagle,” he snickered. Kardi let out a short laugh, relieved that he’d been able to find humor in her antics despite his nasty attitude. As she stood up straight and righted herself toward the exit the ground began to rumble with the gurgling sound once again immediately before something enormous burst from the ground, sending her flying face first into the dirt. A horrible squelching sound resonated through the cavern as the thing must’ve smashed itself up against the sparkling roof. She spun herself around, morbid curiosity forcing her to confront the thing that had sprung from beneath her.

 

The creature was orange, translucent and emitting a faint light. Glowing crystal fragments stuck in what Kardi assumed must have been its head, making it look like a giant sea anemone encrusted with jewels. A sickenly sweet smell filled the cavern, like a wave of sugar and citrus juices.

 

**“GUUUUOOOOOH!!!”** It’s gelatinous body shook as its groan created an unbearable pressure in the small space. In a sort of twisted humor Kardi thought that at least she had one thing in common with this monster because her legs felt like gelatin. They could be Jell-O mascots together. She let out a nervous laugh.

 

“Dammit Kardi are you gonna let this thing kill you, or are you gonna fight back?!” Flowey barked from beside her.

 

“K-Kill?” she choked.

 

“Yeah, kill! It’s kill or be killed; what’s so hard to get about that?! Now hurry up! Get a weapon like a rock or something!”

 

“Wait! M-Maybe it can be reasoned with…” her voice trailed off as the creature appeared to partially melt, its base expanding as it vertically squeezed down into itself. “See? I think it’s scared.”

 

“Kardi, don’t,” Flowey warned as she rose to her feet. Slowly, she approached the monster as its jelly-like rolls squelched and quivered against each other. Despite what everyone had told her, nobody she’d met in the underground had been violent toward her. Temmie, Toriel, Gaster...even Flowey had never approached her with genuine ill will. There was just no way that “kill or be killed” could really be true. This thing was just scared. She’d reassure it and move on, simple as that.

 

“Watch out!” Kardi startled at Flowey’s sudden outburst, as did the Jell-O monster because it suddenly sprang upward again, releasing a volley of tiny, hard pellets from its body.

 

“Shut up, Flowey! You’re scaring it more!” she scolded him while a sudden itch overcame her arm, that creepy crawly feeling when a bug suddenly lands on bare flesh. It was what she felt when she went to scratch it that made her pull back her hand. Fresh blood had newly soaked under her fingernails and smeared over the majority of her palm. She looked at her bicep to see a large cut nearly halfway across her arm, and it was bleeding profusely. Her entire body shivered, the feeling of blood trickling down her arm overpowering all of her other senses. Kardi fell to the ground, pushed herself back into a wall, and screamed.

 

**_“NOOO!!!! I’M SORRY I’M SORRY! I’LL BE GOOD I PROMISE!! PLEASE DON’T LET THEM GET ME!!!”_ **

 

Kardi continued to howl, feeling like she was swimming in a pool of lava despite only rocking back and forth in place. She was suffocating, the monster’s growling reverberated through the floor and into her bones, straight up her spine, making her shake harder. They were coming. There was nothing between her and what was coming for her. She was going to die, she was going to die,  _ she was going to die. _

 

The creature made a wet slapping noise and shook as it prepared another attack. Flowey looked at Kardi, disappointed. He shouldn’t have expected her to know what to do, but he hated that she didn’t even  _ try _ to defend herself; yet that was something that set her apart from  _ them _ . Despite how it annoyed him that she cowered in a corner with tears and drool pouring over her knees and down her legs, Kardi needed his help. She couldn’t do anything without him.

 

“Hey you overgrown puddle of old piss!” Flowey shouted to get the monster’s attention as he extended his vines under the soil. It stopped shaking and shifted, swaying from side to side only for a moment before several thorny vines burst from the ground and wrapped around it, squeezing it into submission. The pressure from being wrapped appeared to relax the beast as it almost melted, shrinking further back into the ground from which it sprang.

 

“Good riddance,” sighed the flower as the burning citrus smell finally started to lighten up. He turned to look at Kardi who was still a blubbering mess of tears and saliva. How disgusting. It was bad enough that he had to touch that sticky moldbygg with his vines, who even  _ knew _ what could be swimming in this girl’s fluids. They had to get out of that area soon though. Kardi’s shrieking had bound to have attracted somebody’s attention, and they were already in a particularly dangerous area of Waterfall. If his sources were correct they may have been fine, but he didn’t want to take any chances. Flowey had to get her out of there as soon as possible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In all honesty I rushed some of this and only edited it like, once. If there's any mistakes point them out and I'll fix 'em. ;A;
> 
> There was gonna be a thrussy meme in this chapter but I took it out. I accept constructive criticism on everything but memes. I love comments so if you'd be so kind as to leave one if you enjoyed you will have my eternal gratitude!
> 
> Also new characters in the next two chapters yeee!!!


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